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Targeting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Majumder criticised the action as unlawful and a form of “dictatorship”. (Image via Instagram/abhijit_majumder)
He shared an audio clip of his conversation with an Airtel executive, who explained that his number was suspended after directions from the West Bengal cyber police due to “fraud activity”
Amid tensions in West Bengal over the ongoing protests concerning the Kolkata doctor rape and murder, and increasing claims against the Mamata Banerjee-led government regarding freedom of speech, a senior journalist has alleged that his phone number was blocked by telecom operator Airtel on the orders of the state’s cyber police.
Abhijit Majumder, the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Earshot, raised the issue on the social media platform X on Friday, stating, “My phone has been blocked. Called Airtel. It has been blocked by apparently cyber police, West Bengal. How is this even legal?”
In another post, he shared an audio clip of his conversation with an Airtel executive, who explained that his number was suspended after directions from the West Bengal cyber police due to “fraud activity.”
“So, the police of #MamataBanerjee have blocked my phone number. I was talking too much about #KolkataDoctorDeath. They think they will silence me 🙂 Called Airtel, this is what they said,” Majumder remarked.
Speaking on the suspension, Majumder told CNN-News18, “I haven’t received any communique from the West Bengal Police. The telecom ministry has informed me that they are investigating the matter. My posts are public.”
Targeting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Majumder criticised the action as “unlawful” and a form of “dictatorship”.
“This action is unlawful, this is dictatorship. They should provide evidence for these allegations. My outgoing and incoming calls were barred,” he asserted.
Majumder also questioned the connection between Airtel and the West Bengal government, stating, “I thought number blocking could only be authorised by the central government.”
Responding to Majumder’s post, Kanchan Gupta, senior advisor at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, condemned the suspension as “unacceptable” and questioned the lack of details or charges against the journalist.
“No details, no charges, no information, nothing. Abhijit is a trenchant critic of TMC Govt and has been highlighting lapses in RG Kar case. West Bengal is now a Police State?,” Gupta noted.