On the 1st of August 2024, the X accounts of two independent journalists, ‘OnTheNewsBeat’ and ‘BezirganMocha’ got withheld in India “in response to a legal demand”. Both these journalists almost exclusively tweeted about the Khalistani nexus. However, later in the day, access to the accounts was restored in India by 𝕏.
Mocha Bezirgan is a journalist from Canada who has been reporting about the insidious anti-India activity taking place in Canada by Khalistanis. He had recently reported about several incidents in which Sikhs For Justice and World Sikh Organisation Khalistanis had participated. He also regularly exposed the links between those in the Canadian government and Khalistanis.
OnTheNewsBeat was also an independent journalist who would report regularly about Khalistani activity and events in India and abroad.
Last night, both these accounts were withheld in India due to a legal demand.
Mocha Bezirgan had taken to Twitter to express his surprise, he also tweeted that he wanted to make sure similar laws were not passed in India that would allow the government to withhold accounts (This tweet is not visible in India anymore).
It has come as a surprise to many that accounts of those exposing the Khalistani nexus have been withheld in India following a legal demand.
According to X, they withhold a specific tweet or an account of an individual if they receive “a valid and properly scoped request from an authorized entity”. The withholding is limited to the country or area where the local laws have been violated, according to the authorized takedown request.
It is pertinent to note that a “legal demand” could mean multiple things. In India, accounts/Tweets could be withheld either by the request of the central government or owing to a court order.
In this case, it is not clear which of the two scenarios led to the two accounts being withheld. It is entirely possible that some Khalistani who was upset with the reporting approached the court and it was some court that issued an order for these accounts to be withheld. Under such circumstances, usually, after a court order, the police would send a notice to X to withhold the account in India.
The other scenario could be that some officers in the central government could have gone rogue.
It is not beyond the realm of possibility that there are several Khalistani sympathizers within the system. These sympathizers could be at various levels of the government – including the central government.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, for example, Khalistani Amritpal Singh won by a landslide in the Khandoor Sahib constituency in Punjab. What was shocking is that he received 1830 postal ballot votes. Ballot votes are cast by those who are deputed in government service and can’t make it to the respective constituencies to cast their vote in person. Therefore, it is reasonable to say that 1830 people, who work in some arm of government service from the Khandoor constituency voted for a Khalistani who is still lodged in jail over terror charges.
It is therefore entirely possible that some rogue element in the central government who sympathizes with the Khalistani terror movement issued a notice to X to withhold the accounts of these two independent journalists.
Another possibility is that a state government or police has issued a notice to withhold the account in India. OpIndia confirmed that it is not just the central government or the courts, but also state governments and police that have the authority to get an account withheld in India.
Restored later
Later in the day, both accounts were restored in India by X. OnTheNewsBeat posted the image of mail received from the social media platform informing that they are no longer withholding the access to the the account India.
Got email confirmation from X, my account is no longer withheld in India 👍
— Journalist V (@OnTheNewsBeat) August 2, 2024
Thanks everyone for the support pic.twitter.com/UN4wKd4DN8
Similarly, the account of BezirganMocha is also now can be accessed in India, which means it is also no longer withheld in India.
Note: This report has been updated with latest developments
