India targets YouTubers, social media voices on espionage charges
New Delhi: In an alarming scale of internal repression, the Modi-led Indian government has started targeting YouTubers and social media activists who have called for avoiding confrontation with Pakistan and sorting out issues diplomatically.
According to Kashmir Media Service at least five content creators , especially those who previously visited Pakistan and produced people-to-people engagement content, are now facing detentions, surveillance, harassment and online vilification. Their only “crime” has been urging the BJP regime to use reason instead of fueling further hostility.
Jyoti Malhotra, 33, is among these victim content creators. She is a travel vlogger who ran the YouTube channel Travel With Jo, has been arrested from Hisar, Haryana, on the ridiculous charges of espionage for Pakistan. Authorities allege that Malhotra shared sensitive military information with Pakistani intelligence officials and maintained regular contact with operatives linked to the Pakistan High Commission, NDTV and several national media reports.
Police say Malhotra had visited Pakistan at least twice after meeting a diplomat, Ehsan-ur-Rahim in Delhi in 2023. She has also been charged with endangering India’s sovereignty and has been remanded to five days in police custody.
Four other arrests have been made in related cases over the past week, media reported. In Panipat, a 24-year-old security guard, Nauman Ilahi, was detained for allegedly passing information to Pakistan. In Kaithal, Devendra Singh Dhillon, a 25-year-old postgraduate student, was arrested for allegedly sharing military-related content with Pakistan’s ISI after a visit through the Kartarpur Corridor. Two additional individuals were arrested by Punjab Police earlier on similar charges.
Observers have dismissed the charges against the detainees as baseless, terming them a reflection of the Modi government’s frustration following its humiliating setback in Operation Sindoor against Pakistan.
