Search
START TYPING AND PRESS ENTER TO SEARCH

ExploreFree Speech TrackerTrack Violations across Categories, States & Years

Browse the Database

The Free Speech Tracker is a database that records free speech violations in India across various categories. Tracked violations can be searched across categories, states or years. Categories covered include Arrests, Attacks, Censorship, Harassment, Internet Control, Killings, Lawfare, Policies/Regulations, and Threats.

Please visit the About Us page for a guide to free speech violations tracked by FSC,

Numbers are liable to change and violations may be reclassified in case of discrepancies in reporting or updates due to developments in ongoing cases. In case of updates or corrections and to report free speech violations, please contact us.

[Note: The data included currently is for 2025 as updates for previous years is under process. For details of previous years, please go to the Reports section.]

Violations

States

Year

Reset

Censorship

Globally Renowned Scholar of Hindi, Francesca Orsini, Deported from Delhi Airport Despite Valid Visa

State: Applicable Across India

Year: 2025

Date: October 21, 2025

Censorship – Academia

Francesca Orsini, scholar of Hindi and professor emerita at SOAS, London University, was tonight stopped from entering India even though she has a valid 5 year e-visa and told that she was being deported immediately.

Orsini, author of the highly regarded 2002 book, The Hindi Public Sphere 1920-1940: Language and Literature in the Age of Nationalism, and other academic works, arrived in Delhi on the night of October 21 via Hong Kong after attending an academic conference in China.

Though she was planning to visit friends and had last travelled to India as recently as October 2024, the immigration authorities denied her entry. Speaking to The Wire from Delhi airport, Orsini said that no reason was provided. “I am being deported. That is all I know,” she said.

A resident of London, she would then have to make her own arrangements to return home from there.

An Indian government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed that Orsini was deported because her purpose of travel did not match her visa category. When it was pointed out to the official that she was visiting on a tourist visa to meet friends, the official maintained that a prior pattern of visa violations had been observed and that she had reportedly engaged in research activities during an earlier visit on the same visa.

Read More

Arrests

Rajasthan police detain 2 journalists, Anand Pandey and Harish Divekar, from Madhya Pradesh for ‘illegal demand of Rs 5 crore’

State: Rajasthan

Year: 2025

Date: October 17, 2025

Arrests – Journalists

The Rajasthan Police on Friday picked up two journalists from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, claiming that they had carried false and defamatory stories against Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari and demanded Rs 5 crore to take them down.

Anand Pandey, Editor in Chief of The Sootr, and Harish Divekar, the Managing Editor of the news website, were picked up by the Rajasthan police from Bhopal, where the news portal is headquartered.

Speaking to The Indian Express, a spokesperson for The Sootr termed the police action “shocking and unlawful”. Jaipur police claimed their “investigation revealed that the accused had made an illegal demand of Rs 5 crore to remove false news” from the portal and that they had planned to launch a ‘Destroy Diya’ campaign.

Speaking to The Indian Express, a spokesperson for The Sootr said that over the last seven years, they have “consistently raised questions about governance, accountability, and public interest” and that “our reporting on the corruption allegations involving the Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister is backed by proper documentation and verifiable evidence”.
“On Friday, two of our senior journalists — Divekar and Pandey — were picked up by the Rajasthan police from Bhopal in a shocking and unlawful manner. Both were in the city at the time — Divekar was with his family, and Pande was meeting a friend,” the spokesperson said.
Read More

Censorship, Lawfare

Mumbai Police book, detain TISS students who attended G.N. Saibaba death anniversary gathering; laptops, phones seized

State: Maharashtra

Year: 2025

Date: October 13, 2025

Lawfare – Detention, Others | Censorship – Protests/Meetings

A team of Mumbai Police entered the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) campus late Monday night with heavy force and detained several students for organising a peaceful gathering in memory of late human rights defender G.N. Saibaba on his first death anniversary, observed the previous day.

“There is still police presence on the campus. They came hours ago,” a student told Maktoob at 2 a.m. on Tuesday.

“We don’t know the exact details. We don’t know why the police came or who complained. It was a peaceful candlelight gathering to honour a rights defender,” the student said.

According to an Indian Express report, Mumbai Police invoked sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to “causing prejudice to the nation,” “promoting enmity between groups,” and “unlawful assembly,” among others, against at least ten students.

The FIR was registered based on a complaint from the TISS administration, the newspaper reported.

Read More

Lawfare

Independent journalist Ajit Rathi served a legal notice by Uttarakhand government

State: Uttarakhand

Year: 2025

Date: October 11, 2025

Lawfare – General, Journalists

The Press Association and the Press Club of India on Saturday condemned the Uttarakhand government for issuing a legal notice to an independent journalist over his reportage on land deals in the hill state.

Independent journalist Ajit Rathi was served a legal notice by the State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited (SIDCUL) over his reports on leasing out land allocated for an IT Park to private parties.

The Press Association, an organisation representing journalists accredited by the central government, termed the issuance of the notice as an assault on press freedom.

Such actions by the Uttarakhand government stem from authoritarian tendencies aimed at stifling democratic discourse and preventing journalists from discharging their duty to report facts, the Press Club of India said.

Read More

Killings

Bagalkot journalist Basavaraj Kanakond murdered for blackmailing illegal rice racket

State: Karnataka

Year: 2025

Date: October 8, 2025

Killings – Journalists

The death of journalist Basavaraj Kanakond in Karnataka’s Bagalkot, initially believed to be a road accident, has been confirmed as murder linked to blackmail over an illegal rice supply racket, police said on Saturday. Bagalkot police have apprehended three individuals in connection with the case.

Kanakond died on 8 October after his scooter was hit by an unidentified vehicle near Madarkhandi Cross in Jamakhandi taluk. The incident, first treated as an accident, came under scrutiny after his wife filed a complaint, prompting police to reopen the probe.

Kanakond had reportedly collected proof about an illegal rice network. Rather than publishing the story, he began blackmailing the implicated individuals, police said.

Read More

Threats

Singer Nilotpal Bora threatens to smash journalists’ cameras, later downplays responsibility

State: Assam

Year: 2025

Date: September 29, 2025

Threats – Journalists

Singer Nilotpal Bora was caught on camera threatening to break journalists’ equipment—saying he would “smash any camera I see inside”—and urging media to be driven out. When reporters confronted him afterward, he offered a dismissive remark that appeared to downplay his earlier threat. The incident has drawn criticism from the press and raised concerns about intimidation of journalists.

Read More

Killings

‘Threatened after reports’, missing Uttarkashi journalist, Rajeev Pratap Singh, found dead

State: Uttarakhand

Year: 2025

Date: September 28, 2025

Killings – Journalists

Ten days after he went missing, the body of journalist Rajeev Pratap Singh was recovered from a barrage in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district on Sunday.

Superintendent of Police Sarita Dobhal said the postmortem report was awaited to confirm the cause of death. “Prima facie, his car fell into a gorge and into the river, which had swelled during the time of the incident. We had found CCTV footage from a few minutes before the incident, showing him alone in the car,” she told The Indian Express.

Pratap, 36, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, ran a Facebook page called Delhi Uttarakhand Live, which focused on local issues. His family has alleged that he had received multiple threats to take down his recent reports.

Read More

Lawfare

Wangchuk held under NSA, flown from Leh to Jodhpur as Govt cracks down

State: Ladakh

Year: 2025

Date: September 26, 2025

Lawfare – National Security, Others

Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been spearheading the movement seeking statehood and protections under the Sixth Schedule for Ladakh, was detained under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) by the police in Leh on Friday. His wife said he has been taken to a jail in Jodhpur.

The development comes days after the Centre accused him of instigating the violent protests that broke out in Leh on Wednesday, which ended in the death of four individuals in police firing. Fifty people were also injured.

The following day, the Centre revoked the FCRA license of the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh, founded by Wangchuk. The CBI has also initiated an inquiry into the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives Ladakh, which he runs, for alleged FCRA violations.

Read More

Attacks

Journalist from NMF News, Sumit Tiwari, attacked during protest coverage

State: Uttarakhand

Year: 2025

Date: September 25, 2025

Attacks – Journalists

A reporter from NMF News, Sumit Tiwari, was attacked while covering a protest by the ‘Berozgar Sangathan’ at the Parade Ground in Dehradun.

According to Sumit, he had come from Noida along with cameraman Umakant Upadhyay to cover the protest. While they were asking questions, some people present at the protest abused them, manhandled them, and even threatened to kill them. They also threatened to damage their vehicle.

The police personnel present at the site intervened and rescued the reporter and his cameraman. Sumit has filed a complaint at Dalanwala Police Station, demanding legal action against those responsible.

He also mentioned that he has video footage and photographs of the incident which will be given to the police as evidence.

Read More

Threats

NMA advisor Rosemary Dzüvichü reports ‘death threat’ over women’s reservation advocacy

State: Nagaland

Year: 2025

Date: September 23, 2025

Threats – Others

Advisor to the Naga Mothers Association (NMA), Rosemary Dzüvichü, has reported receiving a death threat on the evening of September 23. The message was reportedly directed at her “and young and old feminists who have stood for women reservation.”

The threat was reportedly received through a post on a private Facebook group called “Unified Naga Land for Christ.”

In a social media post, Dzüvichü wrote: “Received a death threat message meant for me on a Facebook Naga group a few hours ago. A warning to me and young and old feminists who have stood for women reservation.”

However, she stressed that such threats would not deter her or Naga women from advocating for their rights.

 

Read More

Showing 1-10 of 241 results