Without obtaining any permission from the requisite authorities under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and without citing any notification or order of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Indian government directly or through the police machinery under the Punjab police has arm-twisted many Internet Service Providers in Punjab and parts of India to selectively block the Sikh Siyasat website -www.sikhsiyasat.net -a Punjab-based popular religio-political news portal. WSN Editor Jagmohan Singh exposes the game behind the move. 

SIKH SIYASAT HAS BEEN STEADILY EXPOSING the half-truths and lies of the Indian state machinery as well as that of the Punjab government consistently and persistently.

This year, to mark the anniversary of the Unimaginable Catastrophe of June 1984, Sikh Siyasat has launched a series of articles on the 43 Gurdwaras which were simultaneously attacked when Akal Takht was bombarded. Likewise, in the recent past, they have also launched ‘talking books’ version of Sikh ideologue Ajmer Singh’s books on the events leading to June 1984 and beyond.

The political nature of the ‘ban’ is not lost on Sikhs and Sikh media. At a time, when the Sikh world is reminiscing events of June 1984, whether Ludhiana Member Parliament Ravneet Singh Bittu, who is the grandson of gross human rights violator former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, likes it or not, what does the dirty tricks cell desire to achieve by blocking information, pieces of writing and videos, knowing fully well that such a move will be counterproductive? Or is there an ulterior motive?

Today, the www.sikhsiyasat.net website is operational in parts of Punjab and India but does not show up in many parts of the state and India. This is definitely a new and pernicious attempt, perhaps to bypass the legality of the action, to harass media centres of nationalities, especially those who spare no effort to tell the whole truth.

“We owe allegiance only to the Khalsa Panth and its interests. We will not be cowed down by such tactics. We will fight this tooth and nail and we have the blessings of the Gurus and the Sikh Sangat with us.”

Parmjeet Singh, Editor, Sikh Siyasat

This is not the first time. Way back in 2015, when the Bargari Morcha was at its peak, the Sikh Siyasat received written orders regarding “objectionable content”, which they comprehensively contested and hence there was no step by the concerned government department.

With fewer possibilities of protestations on the roads, India is in an overdrive to subvert human rights of citizens, especially those belonging to minorities. It is widely known that Internet Service Providers in India do not have the commercial clout nor the political will to stand up to illegal government orders and in this particular case, it seems that the orders are only verbal communication. In this case, too, there is an apprehension that the ear-pinching has perhaps been done by ‘experts’ close to the senior echelons in the Punjab police machinery.

Speaking to The World Sikh News, Sikh Siyasat editor, Parmjeet Singh said, “The English section of our News portal www.sikhsiyasat.net has been selectively blocked, whereas the Punjabi and video sections are still online.”

“This “close to complete blocking” of our site happened in the evening of 6 June and is still continuing. We are still looking for the reasons behind such action, though circumstantially it is clear that coverage of June 1984 across the Sikh world on all platforms of social media has bamboozled many during the last one week.” he added.

This “close to complete blocking” of our website happened in the evening of 6 June and is still continuing. We are still looking for the reasons behind such action, though circumstantially it is clear that coverage of June 1984 across the Sikh world on all platforms of social media has bamboozled many during the last one week.”

Parmjeet Singh, Editor, Sikh Siyasat

World Sikh News questions the illegal move of the unidentified authorities. Assuming that there was an apprehension of violation of any provisions of any act, as a matter of fair adjudication, the admins and content creators of the website must have been served with pre-removal hearing notices and only then a decision should have been taken.

A reply received under the Right to Information Act 2005 by Priyanka Chaudhuri on 31 December 2018 stated that for the period 2010 to 2018, as many as 14,221 websites have been blocked under Section 69 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. However, in the same reply, the Ministry refused to give the names of the blocked websites taking immunity under Section 8(1) of the RTI Act exempting them from the disclosure of such information.

Nevertheless, any designated agency of the government or the MEITY which will seek to defend the decision of blocking the website on the grounds as mentioned in Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000 can easily be hauled up for procedural lapse and a total denial of norms of natural justice.

Supreme Court lawyer Harpreet Singh Hora says, “Such sudden bans are not only constitutionally tough to be defended as these are violative of Article 14 and 19 of the Indian constitution, but also erode the confidence in working of the executive authorities thereby against the doctrine of “just, fair and reasonable procedure” established under Article 21.”

Unable to bear the plethora of articles and posts on Sikh remembrance of the attack on Darbar Sahib, also known as the Golden Temple, in June 1984 by the Indian armed forces, the dirty tricks departments of the Congress government of Punjab and the BJP-led coalition in Delhi seem to be in overdrive to do the impossible -erase Sikh memory.

“Such sudden bans are not only constitutionally tough to be defended as these are violative of Article 14 and 19 of the Indian constitution but also erode the confidence in working of the executive authorities thereby against the doctrine of “just, fair and reasonable procedure” established under Article 21.”

Harpreet Singh Hora, Supreme Court lawyer

Specifying the legality of the step taken by the government, Harpreet Singh Hora told WSN, “On the face of it, this seems to be an exemplary case of the overarching nature and wordings of provisions of the IT Act and the IT Rules being misused by the authorities to bring the dissemination of speech through that website, to a halt.”

For the last two decades, the Sikh Siyasat team has been dedicated to furthering the interests of the Khalsa Panth, steadfastly chronicling contemporary Sikh and Punjab history of our times through print and online presence, taking of social, religious, political, water resources and many path-breaking issues, never batting an eyelid over the paucity of resources, nor flinching at the pressure exerted by state agencies from time to time over the years.

Sikh Siyasat editor Parmjeet Singh defiantly said, “We owe allegiance to the Khalsa Panth and its interests. We will not be cowed down by such tactics. We will fight this tooth and nail and we have the blessings of the Gurus and the Sikh Sangat with us.”