On August 19th, 2012 Government of India issued circular to the Internet Service Providers to block a number of internet sites, facebook pages, and twitter handles apparently for spreading rumors regarding violence in Assam & Myanmar. The list included two pages from TwoCircles.net website as well. Pages that have nothing to do with Assam or Myanmar.
Screenshot of the blocked page.
Comments from eminent people supporting TCN:
This website, which has received several accolades, did sterling service in trying to check rumours by publishing in toto, the Myanmar government’s response to doctored images claiming to show massacred Muslims in the Arakan province.
— Garga Chatterjee, Columnist.
i am shocked to know that pages of twocircles.net were censored.
— Prof. Shamsul Islam, Delhi University.
It is an infringement on the freedom of expression and people’s right to information. From the information available, the blocking of TwoCircles.net is not related to Assam issue. It looks like the excuse of Assam issue has been used to remove uncomfortable truth from the public domain. This a despicable act from the government, and it doesn’t augur well for Indian democracy.
— Binu Mathew, Editor, Countercurrents.org
TwoCircles.net is a very balanced site. – totally oppose this move of govt.
— Ram Puniyani, writer and a champion of communal harmony.
The govt is taking advantage of the violence caused by the widespread propagation of morphed images of assam & myanmar on the internet to block a series which lists the way Muslims have been falsely accused in MP. Most of the cases highlighted are of SIMI members or those alleged to be SIMI members. I have no fondness for SIMI, but TWOCIrcles has every right to expose the way the police foists false cases on SIMI members, or those it suspects have sympathies with the organisation.
— Jyoti Punwani, Journalist.
Nothing should be banned unless and until it is really harmful to human beings.
—Mumtaz Mir
It seems people not involved in Azad Maidan incident are being arrested similarly the sites not involved in the incidents are being blocked. What a poetic justice. In fact they want to threaten Muslims and suppress their voice totally.
— Moonisa Bushra Abedi
Reports and articles about the blockade:
The Hindu, Sept 10
ETV Urdu, Sept 5
TCN, Sept 3
US-based Indian Muslim orgs come together to support TCN
TCN, Sept 2
Have censored websites broken any law? : By Garga Chatterjee.
Indian-American Muslims protest against blocking of news websites in India
Indian Express, Aug 28
Blocked for ‘violence’, website to sue govt: Indian Express
Urdu Times, Aug 26
The Sunday Guardian, Aug 26
Govt tries to monitor net, goofs
Rashtriya Sahara, Aug 26
TCN, Aug 23
Unheard, unspoken… and banned
Blocked URLs:
Unheard & Unspoken: Terror stories from Madhya Pradesh
Petty dispute leads to death of one in Mathura
Govt. circular listing TwoCircles.net URLs at number 72 and 73 in the list:
