Amid ongoing tensions in West Bengal over protests related to the Kolkata doctor’s rape and murder, and increasing allegations against the Mamata Banerjee-led government regarding freedom of speech, a senior journalist has claimed that his phone number was blocked by telecom operator Airtel under the orders of the state’s cyber police.
Abhijit Majumder, the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Earshot, raised this issue on the social media platform X on Friday. He stated, “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, Majumder shared an audio clip of his conversation with an Airtel executive, who informed him that his number was suspended on the orders of the West Bengal cyber police due to alleged “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 commented.
Speaking to CNN-News18 about the suspension, Majumder said, “I haven’t received any communication from the West Bengal Police. The telecom ministry has informed me that they are investigating the matter. My posts are public.”
Majumder criticized the action as “unlawful” and described it as a form of “dictatorship.” He added, “They should provide evidence for these allegations. My outgoing and incoming calls were barred.”
He also questioned the connection between Airtel and the West Bengal government, stating, “I thought number blocking could only be authorized by the central government.”
Kanchan Gupta, a senior advisor at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, responded to Majumder’s post by condemning the suspension as “unacceptable” and questioning 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 remarked.
