The real villain of the piece (Re books being withdrawn or self-censored) is content law which hasn't been amended even though it's been becoming increasingly clear as time goes by that Indian content law needs amendment. (Tweets on the subject below, unfortunately complete with their typos.)
Sans any comment on the Doniger book—perhaps before going off the deep end Re others not standing up for FoE, put yourselves on their shoes.
— Nandita Saikia (@nsaikia) February 11, 2014IMO, it's unfair to be unreservedly critical of people for 'not standing up for FoE'. For one thing, it's rarely ever that black and white.
— Nandita Saikia (@nsaikia) February 11, 2014Many content laws are criminal. Having money to hire good lawyers is not guaranteed to keep you out of jail for a content law violation.
— Nandita Saikia (@nsaikia) February 11, 2014The worst case scenario Re content law violations is jail not monetary damages. Given that, how enthu would you be to 'stand up for FoE'?
— Nandita Saikia (@nsaikia) February 11, 2014The problem Re alleged content law violations is not so much people not standing up for FoE but that the law is awful & needs urgent reform.
— Nandita Saikia (@nsaikia) February 11, 2014People who invoke content laws to stifle free speech bear responsibility for their actions. I've seen no one comment on 'misuse' of law.
— Nandita Saikia (@nsaikia) February 11, 2014I'm mentally comparing invocation of content law & VAW law and find the lack of commentary about supposed misuse interesting Re the former.
— Nandita Saikia (@nsaikia) February 11, 2014Clearly, different standards operate Re perceptions of content & VAW law. Re the latter, any unpopular invocation is often called misuse.
— Nandita Saikia (@nsaikia) February 11, 2014To clarify, I don't think invoking law —bad or not— to address issues it's intended to deal with is misuse. But may highlight need to amend.
— Nandita Saikia (@nsaikia) February 11, 2014Reiterating : my tweets over the last ½ hour or so are not commentary about Doniger's book — they are about the issues of FoE and VAW.
— Nandita Saikia (@nsaikia) February 11, 2014