Indian court halts airing of documentary on Muslim minority

Ruling dismays free speech activists who accuse Modi government of systematically shrinking space for dissent

An Indian court has pre-emptively stopped the screening of an Al Jazeera documentary about the country’s Muslim minority, fuelling fears that the right to criticise the government is being eroded.

The Allahabad high court was acting on a public interest petition filed by Sudhir Kumar, an activist, who said he had “learned” from media reports that the documentary Who Lit the Fuse? portrayed India’s 172-million Muslims as living in fear of the Narendra Modi government. He also alleged that it showed state agencies acting against the interests of Muslims.