Internet not so `unrestricted' in India, says Freedom House
23 Apr 2011
India is fourteenth in a list that ranks 37 countries on the basis of free and unrestricted access to the internet, according to Freedom House's latest report on the state of the internet.
The report, which puts Estonia on top of a list in terms of unrestricted internet access, says the internet is only "partly free" in India. While there is no substantial political censorship, bloggers and online users have been arrested in the last two years, it stated.
Among Asian countries, India is on the second position. The country scores 36 points on a scale of 100 compared to South Korea's 32. Less number denotes better access to the web. In 2009, India had scored 34 points.
Freedom House is an organization based in the US, monitoring democratic changes, human rights and freedom of speech.
"The Indian blogosphere is quite active and eloquent, complementing the rise in internet use by different interest groups and civil society actors. Bloggers are rarely forced by the government or private individuals to take down their writings, but there have been a few instances in which this has occurred," the report says.
The report specifically cites the example of Lakshmana Kailash K "He was jailed for 50 days for allegedly defaming an Indian historical figure online," the report says. "It later emerged that another person had posted the material, and Kailash was arrested based on a wrong IP address."
