How internet shutdowns doubled violence against women in Manipur

News Network
July 27, 2023

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When videos of two women being paraded naked and assaulted in Manipur went viral last week on social media, the remote northeastern state had been cut off from internet access for nearly three months.

The attack took place on May 4, but the videos of the women being dragged and groped by armed men before what onlookers say was a gang rape, surfaced last week. Authorities said they are investigating the incident and have arrested several men.

Officials imposed a statewide internet shutdown on May 3, saying it was needed to curb rumours and disinformation, and quell violent ethnic clashes that have killed at least 125 people and displaced tens of thousands.

But the internet ban in the state - among the longest in India to date - has made it difficult to alert authorities and journalists to rights violations, many of them directed at women, activists say.

"If there was no internet shutdown, those videos would have surfaced over two months ago and the horror could have been addressed speedily, and other similar offences could have been curbed," said Patricia Mukhim, an activist and editor of the Shillong Times daily in Meghalaya.

"The internet shutdown is a violation of human rights - it curtails people's freedom, and it shuts out news of violent incidents and allows perpetrators to carry on undeterred," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The shutdowns also have an "adverse impact on women's ability to feel safe and restrict their freedom of movement," said Jayshree Bajoria, an associate director at Human Rights Watch in Asia.

"It took a horrific video of violence against women in Manipur to emerge on social media for the authorities to take action. This shows how necessary the internet is for the flow of information, and reporting and documenting abuses," she said.

After the Manipur high court directed the state government to restore the internet in a "limited fashion", authorities on Tuesday said they had "conditionally" lifted the ban on broadband services.

Social media websites, WiFi hotspots, virtual private networks (VPNs) and mobile internet - used by a majority of people - still remain blocked in Manipur.

Adverse impact

India had the most number of shutdowns in the world for the fifth successive year in 2022, according to Access Now, a digital rights group.

The shutdowns - including during protests, elections and examinations - were often imposed for indefinite periods and without the publication of shutdown orders, in violation of a 2020 judgment by the nation's top court.

"Authorities have cited violence as part of the rationale for shutting down the internet. However, there is no evidence to show internet shutdowns reduce violence - quite the opposite," Access Now said in a report in May.

The clashes in Manipur, which borders Myanmar, began when members of the Kuki and Naga tribal groups launched a protest on May 3 against the possible sharing of their benefits with the ethnic majority Meiteis in the state.

The federal government rushed thousands of paramilitary and army troops to the state of 3.2 million people, but the state has remained tense since, with killings and other incidents of sporadic violence.

The restive northeast region is among the least developed in the country, with patchy internet access and among the most shutdowns in India, according to data compiled by the Software Freedom Law Center, a digital rights group.

As more services are digitised under the Digital India programme, internet shutdowns disproportionately hurt rural communities and other vulnerable groups such as those who depend on social welfare benefits, a recent report by Human Rights Watch and the Internet Freedom Foundation showed.

Toll on women

In addition to shutdowns, authorities also frequently block websites and issue takedown orders to social media platforms. The government issued nearly 7,000 takedown orders of social media posts and accounts last year compared to 6,000 in 2021, according to Access Now.

Most shutdowns involve blocking the internet on mobile phones, which is how most of the population, particularly in rural areas, access the internet.

This severely impacts access to education and livelihoods, particularly for rural women, the report by Human Rights Watch and IFF showed.

In the western state of Rajasthan, which has had the most internet shutdowns after Kashmir, the majority of workers in the government's rural employment guarantee programme are women.

As attendance checks and wage payments for workers have been digitised, frequent internet shutdowns in the state mean that many women don't get to work, or that they don't get paid, said Bajoria.

"Most of the women come from socially and economically marginalised households ... shutdowns that cut off internet access make their situation worse," she said.

In Manipur, the shutdown means that women cannot communicate as easily with their families via WhatsApp, check the news, make and receive payments on the phone, or even recharge their mobile SIMs, said Ninglun Hangal, who works with development non-profits.

Unable to work from home because of the internet ban, Hangal travelled 13 hours to relocate to neighbouring Assam state. But for women forced to stay back, conditions are tough, she said.

"There are more rumours and misinformation circulating, and there's no way to check or clarify what is true" she said.

"Women feel isolated and scared for their safety, and it's taking a terrible toll. More cases of assault and abuse are bound to come to light when the internet is restored."

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News Network
November 12,2024

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The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement says its fighters have killed at least 20 Israeli soldiers in northern parts of the besieged Gaza Strip in just two days, in retaliation for the occupying regime’s genocidal war on the Palestinian territory.

In a statement on Monday evening, Hamas said that fighters of its military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, “killed at least five occupation soldiers” in northern parts of the coastal territory earlier in the day.

It added that Hamas fighters also killed 15 Israeli soldiers in the war-ravaged region on Sunday.

The resistance movement’s “qualitative operation … confirms once again the failure of the criminal Zionist entity to suppress and eradicate the Palestinian resistance, which continues to direct qualitative strikes against its terrorist soldiers,” Hamas further said on its Telegram channel.

Palestinians have increased their resistance operations in the face of intensified Israeli aggression in northern Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 over the past weeks.

“Our valiant resistance is waging a war of attrition with the criminal enemy, inflicting daily losses on its soldiers and vehicles, and all of [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s bets and dreams of achieving any of his goals are failing,” the Gaza-based resistance movement added.

Hamas also vowed that Israel’s ongoing crimes and aggression against Gaza would be met with increased resistance and painful strikes, which will continue until the aggression against Palestinians ends and the regime fully withdraws from the blockaded territory.

As the war in Gaza enters its 14th month, the Health Ministry reports that Israeli attacks have killed at least 43,603 Palestinians and wounded 102,929 others.

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News Network
November 19,2024

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News Network
November 21,2024

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Shares of Adani Group companies lost about $28 billion in market value in morning trade on Thursday after US prosecutors charged the billionaire chairman of the Indian conglomerate in an alleged bribery and fraud scheme.

Gautam Adani's flagship company Adani Enterprises tumbled 23 per cent, while Adani Ports, Adani Total Gas, Adani Green, Adani Power, Adani Wilmar and Adani Energy Solutions, ACC , Ambuja Cements and NDTV fell between 20 per cent and 90 per cent.

Adani group's 10 listed stocks had a total market capitalisation of about $141 billion at 0534 GMT, compared to $169.08 billion on Tuesday.

US authorities said Adani and seven other defendants, including his nephew Sagar Adani, agreed to pay about $265 million in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain contracts expected to yield $2 billion of profit over 20 years, and develop India's largest solar power plant project.

Adani Green in a statement on Thursday said the US Justice Department had issued a criminal indictment against board members Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani and the Securities and Exchange Commission had issued a civil complaint against them.

The US Justice Department also included Adani Green board member Vneet Jaain in the criminal indictment, it said.

Adani Green's units had decided not to proceed with the proposed US dollar denominated bond offerings due to developments, it added.

"Investors will shy away from Adani Group stocks ... and that's what this sharp selling is signifying," said Saurabh Jain, assistant vice president of retail equities research at SMC Global Securities.

"This could hurt the credibility of the group and maybe borrowing costs will rise," he said.

The indictment comes nearly two years after US shortseller Hindenburg Research alleged that Adani had improperly used tax havens and was involved in stock manipulation, allegations the conglomerate denied.

Also in early Asian trading on Thursday, Adani dollar bonds slumped, with prices down 3c-5c on bonds for Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone. The falls were the largest since the Adani Group came under a short-seller attack in February 2023.

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