Passed in Parliament in December 2023, India’s new ‘Telecommunication Bill’ represents the country’s tragic descent from the world’s largest democracy to a surveillance state. Introduced to replace the colonial-era Indian Telegraph Act of 1885, the Bill has drawn strong criticism, especially from Indian independent media.
One of the glaring issues is its strategic vagueness – it allows the Union or state government to take control of nearly all over-the-top (OTT) platforms like Whatsapp, Telegram, etc. for ‘national security’. This allows the state to intercept messages, allowing them to continuously monitor oppositional forces – journalists, protestors and other dissidents. Just as concerningly, the bill calls for the mandated biometric verification of users of telecommunication services. This would allow authorities to, for instance, track down personal details of individuals posting about a specific protest over social media.
As deeply worrying as the implications of this bill are for free speech, anyone with even a rough idea of the state of Indian politics over the last 10 years would not see this bill as surprising. It is only the most recent iteration of the ruling party’s move towards state surveillance of civil society.
India currently ranks 161 out of 180 countries in the press freedom index released by Reporters Without Borders. The organisation has clearly stated that the country’s “press freedom is in crisis.” India has a decade-long history of detaining and imprisoning journalists by weaponizing counter-terrorism bills, especially the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The state has been accused of misusing this law to “harass journalists and activists” as well as independent media houses that are critical of the ruling BJP by the Human Rights Watch, a sentiment that has been emphasised by Amnesty International as well. Just like the Telecommunication Bill, the wording of the UAPA is deliberately vague, which allows the government to misuse it. Despite the conviction rate being extremely low, dissenters can be detained under this law for years due to administrative delays.
The ruling party has a pattern of introducing deliberately broad and vague laws that allow them to crack down on dissent. The Telecommunication Bill, while far from surprising, is certainly a disappointing step in the wrong direction for freedom of speech.
Malvika Murkumbi
SOURCES
https://thewire.in/government/cleverly-drafted-telecom-bill-government-tightens-grip-digital-india
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/13/india-arrests-raids-target-critics-government
The Amnesty 
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