IIPM’s Online Blockade

IIPM has a history of acting against negative reports

On 15 February, all internet service providers in India were ordered by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to block 73 URLs that had content critical of business school Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM) and its dean Arindam Chaudhuri. None of the publishers was reportedly informed about the court order to the effect or given a chance to defend itself.

The blocked articles mainly say the institute’s advertisements have not made it clear that it is not recognised or cannot grant an MBA or other degrees. Chaudhuri believes this criticism is defamatory. One of the blocked URLs was a public notice issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in July 2012 notifying the fact that IIPM is not a university under the UGC Act, 1956. The DoT says it was obeying an order issued by a district court in Gwalior.

This action raises concerns about free speech on the web. Chaudhuri has got severe flak on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. A hacker’s collective, Anonymous India, even brought down IIPM websites, IIPM.in and IIPM.edu, the following day for nine hours. Meanwhile, some affected media publications like Caravan and Kafila have reposted the contentious articles on different URLs as a mark of protest. The UGC notice is also available as a PDF document on cached pages.

IIPM has a history of acting against negative reports. In 2005, it filed a case against blogger Rashmi Bansal after a magazine she edited, Just Another Magazine, question ed claims made by IIPM. In 2009, a criminal case was filed against the editor of Careers 360 for questioning claims by the organisation related to a campus being set up in Dehradun. It also filed another lawsuit to the tune of Rs 50 crore against Caravan for publishing a profile of Chaudhuri. This lawsuit also names Google for some reason.

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