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New Delhi/Kashmir: Instagram (Meta) has blocked The Hindu and Scroll.in news articles covering the Kashmir pellet victim Insha Mushtaq’s story.

The reason: “legal requirements under the Union government’s Information Technology Rules.”

According to Scroll.in, since June, Meta has blocked four of its posts for the above reasons.

The platform informed Scroll through a message on its dashboard that access to the content had been restricted in India “through an automated system implemented pursuant to legal requirements” under the rules.

The Hindu was told, “We restricted access to this content pursuant to legal requirements under India’s Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules.”

On August 6, the online news portal had published: In Kashmir, most pellet gun victims wait for compensation even a decade later, which covered the firing of pellet bullets on civilians protesting against the killing of popular militant commander Burhan Wani in 2016.

Insha Mushtaq, who was just a teenager and a Class 8 student, was struck, blinding her for the rest of her life.

In 2018, the then chief minister Mehbooba Mufti approved an LPG dealership for Mushtaq. On July 30, the Omar Abdullah government approved the release of Rs 41.16 lakh for the LPG distributorship completion.

The decision comes against the backdrop of a protest by students at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar earlier this month over alleged irregularities in NEET and concerns about the country’s education system. The demonstrators, who were also demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, were reportedly fired upon with pellet bullets by the Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Delhi Police, leaving at least four students injured.

Two of them have moved the Supreme Court seeking a ban on the use of pellet guns.

Although the Modi government has repeatedly said there were “no bullets fired on the students”, social media was flooded with videos of the same.