Friday, 17 May, 2024
By: Anshul Vipat
Although, it is important to note that the majority of the respondents, one-third of the internet users, said they have never feared harassment in expressing their political views
The survey shows that Indians across political leanings and regional backgrounds, in the last year, have either stopped themselves from expressing their political opinions, or at least, thought twice about it. This is because they feared being misunderstood, seen in a bad light by people they know or being harassed by strangers.
Close to seven percent of internet users in India said that they thought they have often feared harassment while expressing their political opinion on social media. At least, 13% feared harassment a few times, while 21 percent said that they feared harassment once or twice after expressing political views in the last one year on internet and social media.
Although, it is important to note that the majority of the respondents, one-third of the internet users, said they have never feared harassment in expressing their political views. The rest (24 percent) did not respond to the question.
Congress supporters fear harassment compared to BJP supporters
Compared to BJP, active internet users leaning towards the Congress party are more likely to have hesitated in expressing their political views on social media in the last one year, the survey revealed. Close to 10 percent of Congress supporters hesitated to write on social media as compared to 8 percent of BJP supporters. Although, more than half of the supporters of the both the group said that they have never feared harassment in expressing their political views.
Among the Congress supporters, Hindus faced maximum hesitation (12 percent), followed by Congress leaning Muslims (7 percent).
The survey was carried out between January and April 2022 by the Lokniti programme of the CSDS in partnership with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS). As many as 7,463 respondents, aged 15 and above, took part in the survey, which was conducted across 19 states. The respondents included those who have social media accounts and those who do not do not have social media accounts.
The survey highlights the importance of free speech debate in India, which is seen as fundamental to the functioning of a democracy. However, as the survey result shows the free space is shrinking with political bullying getting mainstreamed. Time and again, political, social and gender activists face harassment while expressing their views on social media. In 2022, journalist Rana Ayyub had filed a complaint alleging that she that over 26,000 abusive, objectionable tweets were posted on her Twitter handle and other platforms. Journalist Rohini Singh received a murder and rape threat on her Twitter account.
In June 2022, Alt-News co-founder Mohammed Zubair alleged that Twitter had withheld his tweet on a right-wing Hindu leader. The next day, Zubair was booked for outraging religious sentiments and arrested by the Delhi Police for a tweet from 2018 with a photo from a Hindi comedy film. In the subsequent weeks, Zubair was booked in six other cases in Uttar Pradesh. Similarly, actress Ketaki Chitale was arrested in May for allegedly sharing an objectionable post about Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar. A total of 22 FIRs were lodged in various districts of Maharashtra against the actor. She was arrested on May 14 and was granted bail on June 24.
BJP leader Tejinder Pal Singh Bagga was arrested by the Punjab police for his social media posts. His arrest led to cat-and-mouse-chase over Bagga's custody between the police forces of Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi. Similar incidents of arrests was faced by few journalists in Delhi.
