India trying to muzzle free speech: gangrape docu filmmaker

March 5, 2015

London, Mar 5: Unfazed by the controversy, the British filmmaker behind the BBC documentary on the Delhi gangrape incident today accused the Indian government of trying to "muzzle free speech" by banning its telecast in India.Leslee Udwin

Leslee Udwin's 'Storyville: India's Daughter' was due to be aired in the UK on Sunday to coincide with International Women's Day but the telecast was brought forward in the wake of attempts by the Indian government to block its release worldwide.

It has led to threats of legal action from the Indian Home Ministry but Udwin remains defiant. She has called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "deal with the unceremonious silencing of the film".

"This is the greatest fight of our times and I wanted to applaud the reaction of the Indian people to the crime with this film. But that has been turned around by this ban, which is an attempt to muzzle free speech," Udwin said here.

"I have constantly stressed this is not an Indian problem, it is a global problem. I remain confident that this film will be a powerful tool for change," she said.

At the heart of the worldwide uproar is an interview with one of the four men facing the death penalty over the 2012 brutal rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student.

The documentary included an interview conducted by Udwin and BBC, of Mukesh Singh, the driver of the bus in which the student was brutally gangraped by six men on December 16, 2012. Mukesh has made derogatory statements against women, Delhi police has said.

The BBC has defended the broadcast of the documentary in the UK late last night, saying it is a "revealing insight into a horrific crime that sent shock waves around the world and led to protests across India demanding changes in attitudes towards women."

The BBC said it brought forward the broadcast "given the intense level of interest in the 'Storyville' film, enabling viewers to see this incredibly powerful documentary at the earliest opportunity."

Nearly 300,000 viewers tuned in to watch the film and 32 complaints were registered against it, the BBC said.

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News Network
April 21,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 21: Not just in China, but in Kerala also robot is now playing a key role in the health workers' fight against COVID-19, thanks to the innovative spirit of a group of young minds and the support of the state Health Department.

Named "Nightingale-19", the robot is deployed to provide food and medicines among patients at the district coronavirus centre in Ancharakandi in Kannur district where a large number of cases have been reported.

The special display facility, attached to it, also allows patients to communicate with health workers and their relatives if necessary, the health minister's office here said.

Designed by the students of Chemberi Vimal Jyothi Engineering College with the support of the Health Department, the remote control-operated robot can carry food and water for at least six persons at a stretch.

Also Read: Pandemic Podcast: How the lockdown is affecting women

The machine, which can travel up to one kilometre, distributes food, water and medicine in each room, a department statement said.

The robot would be disinfected after each use, it said.

Health Minister K K Shailaja inaugurated the new venture from here recently through the robot's video facility, the statement added.

Robots have been put to use in other parts of the country to help in the health workers' fight against COVID- 19.

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Agencies
May 26,2020

In a startling revelation, cybersecurity researchers have claimed that a hacker has posted personal details of nearly 2.9 crore Indian job seekers at one of the hacking forums on the Dark Web for free.

As part of the regular sweep over the Deep Web and Dark Web, researchers from cybersecurity firm Cyble came across an interesting item, where a threat actor posted 2.3GB (zipped) file on one of the hacking forums.

"The leak actually has a lot of personal details of millions of Indians Job seekers from different states," Cyble said in its blog on Friday.

This breach includes sensitive information such as email, phone, home address, qualification and work experience etc from job seekers spanning across states, from New Delhi to Mumbai and Bengaluru. 

Cybercriminals are always on the lookout for such personal information to conduct various nefarious activities such as identity thefts, scams, and corporate espionage.

"It appears to have originated from a resume aggregator service given the sheer volume and detailed information," it added.

Cyble indexed this information at ‘AmIbreached.com; – Cyble's data breach monitoring and notification platform.

Cyble researchers have identified a sensitive data breach on the dark web where an actor has leaked personal details of nearly 29 million Indian job seekers from various states. 

"Cyble's team is still investigating this further and will be updating their article as they bring more facts to the surface,” it said in a statement.

Cyble said it has acquired the leaked data. 

The same cyber security firm earlier exposed that Bengaluru-based edtech firm Unacademy was hacked.

According to Cyble researchers, nearly 22 million Unacademy user accounts were affected and the data was dumped and sold on Dark Web.

'We would like to assure our users that no sensitive information such as financial data or location has been breached," said Hemesh Singh, Co- Founder and CTO, Unacademy, in a statement.

In April, hackers sold personal data of a whopping 267 million Facebook users for just Rs 41,500 (approximately 500 Euros) that includes email addresses, names, Facebook IDs, dates of birth and phone numbers.

No passwords of the 267 million Facebook users were exposed by the hacker, according to Cyble.

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News Network
February 27,2020

New Delhi, Feb 27: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday attacked the government over the transfer of Delhi High Court Judge S Muralidhar, saying the Centre's attempts to "muzzle" justice and "break people's faith in an upright judiciary are deplorable".

Delhi HC Judge S Muralidhar was transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, days after the Supreme Court collegium made the recommendation.

"The midnight transfer of Justice Muralidhar isn't shocking given the current dispensation, but it is certainly sad & shameful," Priyanka Gandhi tweeted. "Millions of Indians have faith in a resilient & upright judiciary, the government’s attempts to muzzle justice & break their faith are deplorable," she said.

The judge was hearing the Delhi violence case and the late evening notification came on the day when a bench headed by him expressed "anguish" over the Delhi Police's failure to register FIRs against alleged hate speeches by three BJP leaders.

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