Govt. continues Twitter crackdown amid Amritpal hunt

The tweets flagged by the government also include older posts related to anti-minority speeches made by political leaders

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has continued its crackdown on posts on Twitter, according to public filings obtained by The Hindu.

While some of the removed tweets and accounts contain unverified information on the situation in Punjab, where police continue to search for the pro-Khalistan preacher Amritpal Singh, the tweets flagged by the government also include older posts related to anti-minority speeches made by political leaders.

@HindutvaWatchIn, a Twitter handle that says it “monitor[s] reports of attacks on members of religious minorities in India,” had four videos pulled down on government orders issued on Wednesday, that was disclosed and implemented on Friday.

The Hindu has reached out to MeitY for comments.

United States Congresswoman Ilhan Omar had on Thursday expressed concern on the “human rights situation in Punjab”. Ms. Omar said the Indian government had “blocked the Twitter accounts of civic leaders, journalists including the BBC Punjab, and a Canadian Member of Parliament”. BBC News Punjabi Twitter account was withheld in India for a few hours on Tuesday, before it was restored.

In March, Twitter disclosed at least 10 takedown requests containing several hundred accounts and tweets. In the latest batch of takedowns, the account of Gurpreet S. Sahota, the editor of the Canada-based CK News Group, was restricted.

Later on Friday, three tweets featuring an alleged video of Mr. Singh were taken down, including one by Punjab Kesari journalist Varun Bhatt.