S N. Ravichandran, Cyber Crime Investigator
July 21, 2024
We, the people of India have come together to give ourselves a Constitution to enable us to live with liberty, dignity, and freedom by surrendering a portion of our primordial or natural rights to the custody of a government to ensure that the citizens live in harmony. This democracy is supported by four pillars: the Parliament, the Executive, the Judiciary, and the Press. The Parliament nurtures democracy, the Executive utilizes it, the Judiciary protects it, and the Press sustains it. Information is the essence of democracy. The role of the Press is to provide that information which enables the citizen to express his view through his representative in the Legislature. It allows him to monitor the working of the executive and it empowers him to approach the judiciary to redress any violations of his rights. Each pillar ensures that the other institutions do not overstate their powers. The Constitution was so framed to prevent any one branch from arrogating powers to the detriment of the others.
July 26th 2024 was a momentous day. The forenoon marked an important event. Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the Proclamation of Emergency by the then government on July 26th, 1975, and the suspension of all civic rights. On the afternoon of 26th July 2024, the government notified certain sections of the Telecom Act 2023. Among one of the sections notified was Section 20 which is given below.
Section 20 (2) On the occurrence of any public emergency or in the interest of public safety, the Central Government or a State Government or any officer specially authorized on this behalf by the Central Government or a State Government, may, if satisfied that it is necessary or expedient so to do, in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, defense and security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, or for preventing incitement to the commission of any offence, subject to such procedure and safeguards as may be prescribed, and for reasons to be recorded in writing, by order—
(a) direct that any message or class of messages, to or from any person or class of persons, to or from any telecommunication equipment or class of telecommunication equipment, or relating to any particular subject, brought for transmission by, or transmitted or received by any telecommunication service or telecommunication network, shall not be transmitted, or shall be intercepted or detained, or shall be disclosed in intelligible format to the officer mentioned in such order; or
(b) direct that any telecommunication service or class of telecommunication services to or from any person or class of persons, to or from any telecommunication equipment or class of telecommunication equipment, or relating to any particular subject, transmitted or received by any telecommunication service or telecommunication network, shall be suspended.
(3) The press messages, intended to be published in India, of correspondents accredited to the Central Government or a State Government shall not be intercepted or detained, unless their transmission has been prohibited under clause (a) of sub-section (2).
(4) The action specified under sub-section (1), sub-section (2) and sub-section (3) shall be for such duration and in such manner as may be prescribed.
From the silence this notification was received it appears that the irony of the notification on that date was lost not only on the media but also the opposition.
Specific attention is drawn to Sec 20 (3) which gives the government sweeping powers to intercept, detain, or suspend any press messages intended to be published in India by any reporter. During the Emergency, this was called “censorship”. The Act was called the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA). Now it is called the Telecom Act .
Loosely worded overarching phrases like “public safety”, “public order”, and “preventing incitement to the commission of any offense” are sufficient reasons for a bureaucrat at the State or the Central level to issue an executive fiat suspending the basic right granted to a citizen namely the Right to Information. No oversight mechanism is provided in the Act to prevent abuse of the section. Unfortunately, neither the Press Council nor the Opposition parties have raised this issue with the government.
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety deserve neither the Liberty nor the Safety. (Benjamin Franklin)
“Fascilis descensus Averno” (The descent to Hell is easy) Virgil
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