Aayush Soni/CPJ India Correspondent

Aayush Soni is an independent journalist in New Delhi who has written for Indian and international outlets including The Guardian, The Caravan, The Indian Express, India Ink-The New York Times, India Real Time-The Wall Street Journal, Scroll, The Wire, and OZY. Soni is an alumnus of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

A newspaper vendor stacks newspapers on his bicycle in Mumbai. Indian journalists say companies are using the legal notices as an attempt to silence critical reporting. (AP/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Q&A: Indian editor explains how threat of legal action is used to silence journalists

On July 5, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, editor of the Economic and Political Weekly, and his colleagues Advait Rao Palepu and Shinzani Jain, received a notice from Thaker and co., a law firm representing Adani Power Ltd, that threatened legal action over a story published the month before.

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Indian security forces face protesters during unrest in Srinagar in September. Journalists are being caught in the crossfire during the recent unrest. (AP/Dar Yasin)

‘It’s worse this time,’ says photographer shot by police during latest Kashmir unrest

For four months, the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir has been under a curfew imposed after protests broke out when Burhan Wani, a commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, a pro-independence militant organization that advocates for Kashmir’s independence from India, was killed in clashes with the Indian army. Journalists have been caught in the crossfire as…

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India's Parliament in New Delhi. A private members' bill to decriminalize defamation will be heard during its winter session. (AFP/Money Sharma)

In India, online campaign seeks to free press from risk of criminal defamation

An online campaign to decriminalize defamation in India is being led by a member of the country’s main opposition party. “Criminal defamation can lead to people being put in jail for something they have said publicly. This law needs to be replaced by a modern, progressive law,” reads the statement on the campaign website.

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