Latest news with #RaviSrinivasan
Time of India
28-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
What you post…
A long time ago, a guy named Ravi Srinivasan had only 16 followers on Twitter (called X now). He posted something against a politician's son. The police noticed and even arrested him, which was surprising. Since then, many students like Ravi have been punished for what they post online. One student in Maharashtra, India, made a mistake when she shared a post that seemed to support Pakistan during a special operation called Op Sindoor. Even though she deleted the post and said sorry, her college kicked her out, and the police arrested her for hurting India's feelings and breaking the law. She spent 18 days in jail and missed two exams just for that. In 2015, India's Supreme Court said that people have the right to express their opinions, even if those opinions are unpopular. They explained that talking or sharing ideas is okay, but trying to make people fight (incitement) is not. Recently, a higher court in Mumbai said the same thing. They asked, 'Does the government want students to stop speaking and turn them into criminals?' The court said the girl's mistake was just a small one, not something serious enough to punish so harshly. Far away in the United States, the government is also trying to watch what foreign students post on social media before giving them visas to study there. They might check your social media profiles closely, and if you like or share posts about certain topics, like children suffering in Gaza, it could cause problems. The American Civil Liberties Union says this kind of government watching makes people scared to speak freely. People move to the U.S. because of freedom, but if free speech is limited, it's not good for any country, whether in the East or West. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
Time of India
28-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
When you post…
What Bombay HC said while freeing a student applies to US govt approach to foreign students as well Ravi Srinivasan had only 16 followers on X when he posted against a senior politician's son 13 years ago. That police took note, and felt compelled to arrest him over other pressing matters, was surprising at the time, but no more. Police and lower courts have made examples of countless Ravis since then. A 19-year-old student in Maharashtra learnt this the hard way after posting words sympathetic to Pakistan during Op Sindoor. Although she realised her mistake, deleted the post, and apologised, her college rusticated her, and Maharashtra Police arrested her on May 9 for endangering India's sovereignty, unity and integrity, promoting enmity, and outraging religious feelings. While striking down the dreaded Sec 66A of the IT Act – which was used to harass Ravi, students Shaheen Dhada and Renu Srinivasan, Kolkata prof Ambikesh Mahapatra, and many others – as unconstitutional in March 2015, Supreme Court had made a distinction between discussion, advocacy and incitement. Discussion and advocacy, 'howsoever unpopular', were at the heart of the freedom of expression, a fundamental right, SC had explained. And on Tuesday, Bombay HC did so again, in different words. 'What does the state want? Does the state want students to stop expressing themselves and be converted into criminals,' it asked. To the college, HC said: 'Someone expresses something, you want to ruin the life of a student? How can you rusticate like this?' How grave was the girl's 'offence'? In HC's own words: 'At the most, her act of sharing the post can be termed an indiscretion by a young student.' For this, she spent 18 days in jail and missed two exams. In faraway America, Trump's admin is also bent on silencing foreign students through social media vetting. Details are fuzzy, but to get a student visa you'll probably need to have a particular kind of social media profile. 'We will continue to use every tool we can to assess who it is that's coming here,' a State Dept spokesperson said. Could liking a post about the suffering of children in Gaza be a disqualification? Maybe. But as American Civil Liberties Union pointed out in 2018, social media is today's public square, and it's so concentrated and easy to monitor that just knowing govt is watching you has a chilling effect on free speech. That's why people leave China for US, not the other way round. So, curbing free speech can't be good for democracies, in the West or East. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.
