The founder of the research initiative said that this would not deter them from their work.
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — The X account of Hindutva Watch was on Tuesday withheld in India in response to a legal demand, a Scroll report said.
Hindutva Watch, founded by Raqib Hameed Naik, tracks reports of attacks on minorities and marginalised communities by Hindutva groups in India.
Naik was quoted by Scroll as saying that the group had not yet received an email from X. “If this is true, it is indeed shocking, though not surprising, given the ruling regime’s track record of suppressing critical voices,” he said.
“This won’t deter us from our work, and we will continue undeterred.”
Naik, who moved to the United States in 2020, founded the website in April 2021. The social media account of the website posts videos and news snippets about violence against Muslims and other minority groups in the country.
Last year, X also witheld the accounts of United States-based human rights organisations Indian American Muslim Council and Hindus for Human Rights in India in response to legal demands.
The Indian American Muslim Council had said it had been informed by X that it had received “a legal removal demand from the Government of India… that claims the following content violates India’s Information Technology Act, 2000”.
The organisation did not provide details on the content that X referred to.
Hindus for Human Rights said that X offered no explanation for why this demand was made, “nor has it offered any opportunities for an inquiry or an appeal of this suspension”.
