India: Pursuing truth in the face of intolerance

This September 2018 report by PEN International is an update on PEN’s previous reports on the freedom of expression in India. It focuses on the atrocities in India against independent and critical journalists, writers and academics since 2014, when the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government came to power at the Centre. The essays here – by journalists Raksha Kumar and Nilanjana Roy, advocate Gautam Bhatia and cultural critic Apoorvanand – discuss legal threats, pressures on editors, threats of violence, challenges to academic freedom, and the chilling effect all of this has had on writing. The report elaborates on the ‘unreasonable’ legal boundaries placed on free expression, not only by law-making bodies, but also by the judiciary. And when legal tools fail to silence criticism, the report finds that intimidation, harassment, prosecution, online abuse and even physical violence have been used against dissenting voices.