Assam police are having to deal with widespread protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), not only on the roads but also on social media.
As the protests turned violent, the government banned mobile Internet for nine days from December 11 but that didn’t stop the surge of inflammatory posts on various social media platforms.
Following the protests across the state, at least 246 social media posts were found to be in conflict with the law till last month. Popular social networking platforms like Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp have been buzzing with people debating over the Act since the law was enacted earlier in December.
Assam’s additional director-general of police (law and order) G.P. Singh said, “While a total of 36 cases have been registered across the state, at least 16 people were arrested. Many others were counselled by the police, leading to deletion of the inflammatory contents.” The police have also registered at least 268 anti-CAA related cases and arrested 448 persons, including Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) leader Akhil Gogoi.
A police source said in several cases minors and students were also found to be involved in posting such provocative contents. “Students have taken part in the anti-CAA protests and many of them are minors and college-goers. Whenever students were found to be involved, the police have counselled them through their parents and teachers,” the source added.
With the availability of the features like local language, a large number of users from rural areas were also found to be engaging in conversations and debates on the Act. Owing to the rise in using local language on social media platforms, authorities have reportedly set up a special monitoring cell to check “anti-CAA posts” in Assamese.
“Around one lakh keywords have been listed by the monitoring cell. The list is likely to get longer soon. Anyone posting a social media post among the enlisted keywords will be found out through special application,” a source in the police’s cyber patrolling unit said.
The state government has even directed its employees to refrain from making any statement or express opinion criticising the government or the Act. However, government employees registered their protest on December 18 and 31 by observing a ceasework and wearing black badges to work.
