Free Speech in 2016: First Quarter Report

Apart from the turbulence in February over the sedition cases filed at Jawaharlal Nehru University, the arrests of students, and the allegations regarding doctored videos, the period saw an overall increase in the number of sedition cases filed, recorded the murder of one journalist, saw increases in attacks on journalists and media property, saw a number of defamation cases filed against the media and the political class, and logged many instances of censorship of different kinds, affecting the media, the arts, as well as ordinary citizens. This period also saw significant legal developments which affect the climate for free speech, at the level of the supreme court and the high court. [The Hoot Report]