In a controversial remark, the Uttarakhand DGP has said that police would scrutinise people's social media accounts before clearing their applications for passport. According to a report in Hindustan Times, DGP Ashok Kumar has said that police will not give clearance if the person regularly posts what police see as anti-national content on social media. Under the new approach, he said, "the police would scrutinise social media accounts to check if they were habitual posters of anti-national posts”. Lawyers and rights activities have termed the move infringement of an individual's freedom of expression.