Mannika Chopra/CPJ India Consultant

Mannika Chopra is a New Delhi-based media columnist and contributor to The Tribune, Hindustan and The Statesman. She is also involved in setting up women media collectives and mentors international journalism students visiting India.

Plainclothes police escort Syed Mohammed Kazmi, an alleged suspect in last month's bombing of an Israeli diplomatic vehicle, from a local court, in New Delhi Wednesday. (AP/Manish Swarup)

Arrest in bombing case prompts scrutiny in India

To many in the Indian media community, the arrest of independent journalist Syed Mohammad Kazmi by the Delhi police’s Special Cell on March 6 for his alleged involvement in a bombing brings back troublesome memories.

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Old issues, new debates on Internet freedom in India

Just how free should the Internet be in India? And whose job is it to police the Web? Two recent court cases turn on these questions and, more specifically, whether Internet companies have a responsibility to filter content. In a country where Internet usage is growing exponentially, but where the scars of communal violence, terrorism,…

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Visitors wait for Salman Rushdie's video conference at the Jaipur Literature Festival, which was called off after Muslim groups protested. (AP/Manish Swarup)

India’s challenge: Intolerance vs. intellectual freedom

Because of criticism from Hindu fundamentalists, the showing of a documentary by filmmaker Sanjay Kak at the Symbiosis College of Arts and Commerce in Pune has been indefinitely postponed. The conservative student organization Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parisha protested Kak’s film, “Jashn-e-Azadi” (How we celebrate freedom), which is critical of the Indian army’s role in Kashmir.…

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Can an Indian cartoonist be barred from mocking the state?

The case of a cartoonist charged with treason and offending India’s national sentiments reflects a growing debate over what constitutes freedom of expression in India. His accusers argue that while it is permissible to make fun of politicians, you cannot make fun of the state. Not everyone agrees.

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Sites like this Facebook discussion group have been the subject of complaints to the Indian police by activists. (CPJ)

India struggles to cope with growing Internet penetration

As Internet penetration deepens, largely religiously and socially conservative India is struggling to cope with concerns about controversial web content and its easy accessibility to a vast population, all with little oversight. Local courts have become the launching point for some of the anti-Web offensives.

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Policing the Internet in India

Amid a raging debate on Internet freedom and censorship in India, members of the government met last week with a clutch of website operators, including representatives of Yahoo, Google, Facebook and Microsoft. In a meeting scheduled to address a wider plan to leverage social media to empower the government, it’s unclear whether the touchy subject…

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Doctors treat Associated Press cameraman Umar Meraj after he was assaulted by police and paramilitary forces using rifle butts, batons, fists and kicks during a protest in Srinagar on November 25 (AP).

Q&A: Press Council of India’s Katju on media safety

Retired Supreme Court Justice Markandey Katju is shaking things up at the Press Council of India, where he was appointed chairman in October. The statutory body, mandated to look at media freedom and address complaints against the print media since 1966, has often been criticized for ineffectiveness, its role limited to admonishing news outlets.

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