Uttar Pradesh starts criminal probe into The Wire editor for alleged ‘discord’ during COVID-19 lockdown
New Delhi, April 2, 2020—Police in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh should immediately withdraw criminal complaints against Siddharth Vardarajan, editor of news website The Wire, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The police opened a criminal investigation into Vardarajan on accusations of spreading discord, enmity, and rumors during the COVID-19 lockdown, according to…
Weight of legal cases and threats leave India’s journalists feeling exposed and alone
The media is in the worst state India has ever seen. That is how several journalists described the current climate in dozens of conversations with CPJ during a trip to Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi earlier this year. While the threats they outlined–political pressure, self-censorship, defamation suits, and attacks–are not a new phenomenon in India, many…
In India, Dalit activists harass journalists during hospital interview
A group of Dalit activists harassed two journalists at an Ahmedabad hospital on January 7, 2018, and deleted a recording of an interview, according to one of the reporters. Damayantee Dhar, a reporter for The Wire, told CPJ that she and Brendan Dhabi, a reporter for the Ahmedabad Mirror, were harassed and threatened while trying…
Indian court bars The Wire from publishing stories on businessman Jay Shah
New Delhi, October 24, 2017– The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned a decision by India’s judiciary to proceed with a criminal defamation complaint against The Wire and issue an injunction preventing the news website from reporting about Jay Shah, the son of the ruling BJP party’s president Amit Shah, while the defamation case is…
Indian court orders website to take down two articles on lawmaker
A city civil court in the southern Indian city of Bangalore on March 2, 2017, ordered the news website The Wire to take down two articles critical of Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a member of India’s upper house of parliament, according to one of the website’s founding editor and news reports.