A documentary about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government's alleged involvement in using Indian intelligence agencies to target the Indian diaspora in Australia has been banned from viewing in India on YouTube, following an order from India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The program, which aired as part of ABC TV’s popular Four Corners series, highlighted the stories of several members of the Indian diaspora in Australia who were allegedly targeted by Indian spy agencies. India’s Secret War – Infiltrating Australia is the title of the documentary.
Sikh activists who support the Khalistani separatist movement and oppose the Modi government were the majority of those who fell victim to the attacks.
Justin Stevens, ABC News’ news director, said the network “fully supports and stands by this story.” After being uploaded to YouTube on June 17, the documentary was geo-blocked in accordance with an order from India’s Ministry of Information and Communications.
In accordance with the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules and the Indian Information Technology Act, YouTube has sent a notice to ABC News based on a “confidential” directive it received from the Ministry of Information and Communications.
Australian channel ABC was offered the opportunity to prevent the documentary from airing in India, but declined. Finally, on July 27, at 11:59 p.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST), YouTube censored the video in India.
ABC Director Stevens said: “This is the second time this year that the Indian government has ordered YouTube to remove ABC public interest journalism about the country. The last time was reporting by a foreign correspondent, this time the Four Corners program. We are appalled by this attempt to silence powerful journalism.”
This will not deter us from continuing to report on matters of public interest. » A documentary episode on the alleged involvement of the Modi government in the death of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was also removed by YouTube in March this year.
