Jaswinder Singh Bains — known internationally as bhangra-rap star Jazzy B — says he was shocked when messages began coming in over the weekend from fans who couldn’t see his Twitter account in India.

Then he got an email from Twitter confirming that he’d been blocked from his home country for allegedly violating India’s Information Technology Act. He said the email offered no details about why he was censored.

“I was really shocked. I had no idea — It’s a shameful thing to do … everybody has the right to speak their mind,” said Bains, who grew up in Surrey, B.C., after coming to Canada