THE INDIA FREEDOM REPORT
Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression in 2017
TheHoot.org

- JOURNALISTS UNDER ATTACK

- CENSORSHIP, NEWS CENSORSHIP, SELF CENSORSHIP

- THE CLIMATE FOR FREE SPEECH--A STATE-WISE OVERVIEW

- SEDITION

- DEFAMATION

- INTERNET-RELATED OFFENCES AND DIGITAL CENSORSHIP

- HATE SPEECH

- FORCED SPEECH

- INTERNET SHUTDOWNS

- RIGHT TO INFORMATION

- FREE SPEECH IN THE COURTS

- CENSORSHIP OF THE ARTS

Journalists under attack
The climate for journalism in India grew steadily adverse in 2017. A host of perpetrators made reporters and photographers, even editors, fair game as there were murders, attacks, threats, and cases filed against them for defamation, sedition, and internet related offences.

It was a year in which two journalists were shot at point blank range and killed, and one was hacked to death as police stood by and did not stop the mob.

The following statistics have been compiled from The Hoot’s Free Speech Hub monitoring:

- 3 killings of journalists which can be clearly linked to their journalism

- 46 attacks 

- 27 cases of police action including detentions, arrests and cases filed.

-12 cases of threats

These are conservative estimates based on reporting in the English press.

The major perpetrators as the data in this report shows tend to be the police and politicians and political workers, followed by right wing activists and other non-state actors Law makers became law breakers as members of parliament and legislatures figured among the perpetrators of attacks or threats. These cases included a minister from UP who threatened to set a journalist on fire, and an MLA from Chirala in Andhra Pradesh and his brother accused of being behind a brutal attack on a magazine journalist. If Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad Yadav threatened to punch a Republic TV reporter in the face, his son Tejaswini’s guards assaulted reporters and photographers when they arrived at his house to get his reaction to an FIR being lodged against him on corruption charges.

Click here to download the full report