Delhi Police’s Cyber Crime Monitoring Department has issued 200 orders through the Sahayog platform seeking the removal of social media content linked to planned protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, according to a report by Jagran. The reported action comes ahead of a CJP protest scheduled in Delhi on Saturday, with the police also increasing online monitoring and deploying additional personnel in the capital.
The 200 orders are reportedly around five times the number generally issued by the department in a week. Jagran reported that the department usually issues about 40 such orders in a week, although the number can be lower in some weeks. The latest orders concern content that officials have considered inflammatory or objectionable, the report said.
According to the report, some of the content covered by the orders was also considered objectionable towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government and the Delhi Police. Jagran said the number of orders could rise further as the planned protest approaches. The report did not specify how many platforms received the requests or how many posts had already been removed.
The orders were issued through Sahayog, a portal that allows authorised government agencies to send requests to social media companies for content removal or access restriction. The platform is being used in this case as part of the police response to online activity connected with the planned demonstration. The report did not provide the text of the individual requests or identify the specific posts targeted.
The police action is linked to a planned demonstration in Delhi seeking the removal of the Chief Election Commissioner. Jagran reported that the Cyber Crime Monitoring Department had tightened scrutiny of online activity in view of the protest. Additional police deployment has also been arranged in the national capital as a security measure.
For residents and organisers, the reported orders place both online communication and physical protest activity under heightened official monitoring before the demonstration. The available report, however, does not establish the final number of orders, the response of social media platforms, or whether any account or post was ultimately blocked. It also does not include a statement from the organisers of the protest.
The police response is expected to continue ahead of Saturday’s demonstration, with Jagran reporting that further content-removal orders may be issued. The report also noted that Delhi Transport Corporation bus routes would be changed from 5 am on October 10 because of the protest, although it did not provide the details of those diversions.
