Seno Saju

Journalist. Only loyal to Manchester United FC.

[Seno Saju @SenoSaju27]

Orders like these are one of the reasons for the frustration of the youth towards this government.

[Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) @internetfreedom]

Statement : The blocking of BitChat's code on GitHub is unconstitutional and authoritarian.

New Delhi, 24 July 2026

The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) condemns the order issued by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), Ministry of Home Affairs, directing GitHub to remove the code repositories of BitChat.

The order, Notice No. 11072601011432, was issued at 11:16 pm on 23 July 2026 under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 read with Rule 3(1)(d) of the IT Rules, 2021. The order directs GitHub to disable access to three repositories, including the Android application and its release files, within three hours. It threatens the platform with loss of safe harbour and criminal prosecution. No copy was published by the Government of India. The public learnt of it from a post by @jack, whose team develops BitChat. Censorship in India now comes to light through disclosure by the censored.

Since 17 July 2026, the Ministry of Home Affairs has suspended mobile internet around Jantar Mantar as per public reports about five times, most recently within a 1.5 kilometre radius from 4 pm until midnight on 23 July. That radius takes in Janpath and parts of Connaught Place. Reports describe signal jammers at the protest site and people walking two kilometres before their phones work. Inside that zone a student separated from her group during a detention drive cannot send a message to say where she is. Thousands of students and young people have camped at Jantar Mantar since June, seeking accountability for examination irregularities. Permission for their march to Parliament was refused. Metro stations were shut and also internet connectivity has been blocked.

BitChat is an open source application built for exactly this situation. It passes messages from phone to phone over Bluetooth, without mobile networks or a central server. It is striking that the order does not identify a single unlawful message. It objects to what BitChat is. In its own words, the application is dangerous because it enables communication "even during network restrictions" and can "circumvent lawful restrictions" during "internet shutdowns". Hence, the government's objection is that citizens can speak to one another while it has switched the internet off.

The order is illegal on at least four grounds.

1. Section 79(3)(b) is not a blocking power. In Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (2015) 5 SCC 1, the Supreme Court read down the provision. Intermediaries may be required to act only on a court order, or a government notification confined to the grounds under Article 19(2) of the Constitution. Blocking is governed exclusively by Section 69A and the Blocking Rules, 2009, which require a hearing and reasons recorded in writing, subject to review. Directions issued under Section 79(3)(b), Rule 3(1)(d) and the Sahyog Portal evade these safeguards, and constitutional challenges to this parallel regime are pending before High Courts.

2. The reasons in the order are circular. The order asserts that the repositories contain "information which is prohibited under any law" without naming any such information, and rests on what the application is "capable of" enabling. Anticipated misuse of a communications tool is not a lawful basis to prohibit the tool. By this logic a telephone exchange could be sealed.

3. The order cites Section 43 of the IT Act, a civil compensation provision, alongside conspiracy and abetment offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, against a platform that hosts code.

4. A three hour deadline issued close to midnight forecloses legal assessment and recourse, and fails the proportionality standard in Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India (2020) 3 SCC 637.

The order also fails on its own terms as deleting a repository does not delete the application from any phone that carries it, and the mesh keeps functioning without servers. What the takedown actually prevents is scrutiny of the underlying code.

IFF demands that the Government of India:

1. Withdraw Notice No. 11072601011432 dated 23 July 2026 issued to GitHub.
2. Publish every takedown direction issued under Section 79(3)(b), Rule 3(1)(d) and the Sahyog Portal, with the reasons recorded for each.
3. Restore full connectivity around Jantar Mantar, publish all suspension orders, and disclose the legal authority for the deployment of jammers.

We stand with the developers and the young protesters whose speech this order seeks to silence.

[Amnesty International @amnesty]

Delhi's Lieutenant Governor has invoked powers under India's National Security Act that allow police to hold people in administrative detention without procedural guarantees, including the right to be informed of the grounds of detention and the possibility to challenge is before judicial authorities.

This move is deeply concerning. We urge the Delhi Police not to invoke the NSA against peaceful protesters.

Read more: https://t.co/GJXGcIvMMA

[jack @jack]

the government of india does not like technologies like bitchat and wants it taken down

[Abhijeet Dipke @abhijeet_dipke]

Dharmendra Pradhan Must Resign!

[Suhasini Haidar @suhasinih]

TV channels are now also running the story on the use of pellet gun in protests...time for Delhi police to revise its denial

[John Brittas @JohnBrittas]

The ultimate farce! While the nation demands accountability for exam scams & paper leaks, Govt appoints Naresh Pal Gangwar as the new Higher Education Secretary!
This is the same IAS officer whose mother, wife & son collectively received over ₹1.16 crore in government subsidies under the National Horticulture Board scheme for “encouraging commercial crops” (cucumber cultivation). This the way PM ensuring accountability..

[The Hindu @the_hindu]

#Watch | CJP Protests: 19-year-old NEET protester may lose vision after pellet injury

https://t.co/8oVnpIq5mS

[Cockroach is Back @Cockroachisback]

🚨 JANTAR MANTAR IS A PROTEST SITE, NOT A DIGITAL OPEN-AIR PRISON! 🛑

Delhi Police has stationed Facial Recognition Vans to live-scan peaceful protesters. They are harvesting biometrics and extracting personal data on the spot—and we have three direct questions for the administration:

❌ UNDER WHAT LAW IS THIS LEGAL?
Supreme Court ruled that Privacy is a Fundamental Right (Puttaswamy case). Mass-scanning citizens exercising their legal right to protest is unconstitutional.

📂 WHERE IS THIS DATA COMING FROM?
How are these AI systems identifying youth live on site? Are national databases, Aadhaar records, and public registries being illegally cross-matched to turn citizens into targets?

⚠️ HOW WILL THIS DATA BE WEAPONISED?
Who stores these facial scans? How long will they be kept? Are secret registries being built to shadow-ban, intimidate, and target students for demanding accountability?

[Rahul Gandhi @RahulGandhi]

Right now, MPs and leaders of the INDIA alliance are peacefully heading to Gandhi Smriti on Tees January Marg.

We go to remember the students we lost - the children driven to take their own lives after the NEET paper leak.

And we go to stand with the students who lie injured today - beaten for peacefully demanding justice and accountability.

India’s students are not alone. The entire Opposition stands with them and their demands.

अभी, INDIA गठबंधन के सांसद और नेता शांतिपूर्ण तरीके से तीस जनवरी मार्ग पर गांधी स्मृति जा रहे हैं।

हम उन छात्रों को याद करने जा रहे हैं जिन्हें हमने खो दिया - वे बच्चे जिन्हें NEET पेपर लीक के बाद अपनी जान देने के लिए मजबूर होना पड़ा।

और हम उन छात्रों के साथ खड़े होने जा रहे हैं जो आज घायल हैं - जिन्हें न्याय और जवाबदेही की शांतिपूर्ण मांग करने पर पीटा गया।

भारत के छात्र अकेले नहीं हैं। पूरा विपक्ष उनके और उनकी मांगों के साथ खड़ा है।

[CPI (M) @cpimspeak]

Today we remember Capt Lakshmi Sahgal, inspiring and courageous freedom fighter, dedicated and compassionate doctor in the service of the poor, fighter for women's rights, and a revered member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

[Mahua Moitra @MahuaMoitra]

Internet blackout in Central Delhi. Government desperately bullying content platforms to delete photos/videos/evidence of police brutality on protestors as well as stop any coverage of protests. All techies- pls help - pls find ways around this & share methods.

[Seno Saju @SenoSaju27]

My press ID card is missing. Reporter-Deepika daily. If found kindly return….I am not associated with the card from here on. (Even though it’s my fault)

[Office of Dr Shashi Tharoor @TharoorOffice]

Dr @ShashiTharoor asks: “Have you seen the comments about mainstream media on social media? And how do you all feel that you’ve handled the student protests? Has your reporting been fair to both sides of the situation?”

[Nikhil saini @iNikhilsaini]

I get it, people are angry with TV channels. But why take it out on the ground reporters? They’re the ones standing in floods, terror attacks, protests and every difficult situation just to do their job. Harassing an elderly reporter who’s simply working to feed his family isn’t the answer.

[Ashna Butani @ButaniAshna]

1/3

Even as the Delhi Police denies the use of pellet guns on July 20, Sahil (19), a DU SOL student, who has always wanted to be a police officer himself, faces a threat of losing vision in his right eye over a pellet injury.

https://t.co/bhcT4WRg0w

[ANI @ANI]

#WATCH | Delhi: Founding President of Cockroach Janta Party, Abhijeet Dipke says, "People are being sent from outside to deliberately disrupt the protest. We have been sitting here for a month. No such incident has happened in a month. But now, as this protest has grown, goons are being sent from outside by the BJP to deliberately incite people. These are the people from the BJP who are pelting stones. The police bring trucks of stones here. BJP goons come, they pelt stones and then defame the people of CJP..."

[Jairam Ramesh @Jairam_Ramesh]

Immediately following the announcement of the results of the March 1977 Lok Sabha Elections, a delegation led by the JNU Students Union President Sitaram Yechury called on Indira Gandhi demanding her resignation as JNU Chancellor. She did so a few days later. This photo captures the moment he is making that demand.

[K C Venugopal @kcvenugopalmp]

PM Modi has cut off internet around Jantar Mantar, which is creating immense panic.

This is a direct assault on freedom of speech, to silence the voice of India’s youth and hide the Delhi Police’s brutalities.

Be warned, Mr. Modi - any untoward step to quash this youth protest will be deeply disastrous and the people will deliver a historic punishment against you.

[Live Law @LiveLawIndia]

#BREAKING "Don't waste our time," CJI Surya Kant on plea against police action on student protesters during #CJP march.

"We are not interested in videos, we don't have time to watch," CJI tells lawyer who said there are videos showing police atrocities.

[Cockroach is Back @Cockroachisback]

Pellet guns, shock batons used against protesters in Delhi.

This reporting confirms the extent of cruelty and brutality unleashed by the Modi govt on India’s young people. https://t.co/O1cJ2JrJlX