Over 14,800 free speech violations, 117 arrests, 8 journalists killed in India in 2025: Report
New Delhi: In 2025, India has witnessed more than 14,875 instances of free speech violations, including the killing of eight journalists and one social media influencer.
According to Kashmir Media Service, this was stated by the Free Speech Collective, an organisation that monitors violations of free speech in India. In its latest report, the Collective recorded instances of censorship, court gag orders, restrictions affecting academic autonomy, film censorship, regulatory policies, and corporate interventions to regulate free speech during the year.
The report said that 117 arrests linked to free speech violations were reported during the year, including the arrests of eight journalists. The Collective further revealed said that 33 of the 40 attacks related to free speech targeted journalists. Of the 19 instances of harassment, 14 involved journalists. Twelve cases of journalists receiving threats in the course of their work were also recorded, the report added.
Eight journalists were killed during the year: two in Uttar Pradesh and one each in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Karnataka, Odisha, and Uttarakhand. A social media influencer was killed in Punjab.
Two journalists, Irfan Mehraj from Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir and Rupesh Kumar from Jharkhand, remained in custody this year under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Mehraj has been jailed since March 2023 and Kumar since July 2022.
The report also said that there had been 11,385 instances of censorship and 208 cases of lawfare, referring to the use of legal action to cause problems for an opponent. The censorship figures include mass takedown requests issued by the Indian government to social media platform X. In May, the Modi government sought to withhold access to more than 8,000 accounts on the social media platform in India, the highest number recorded in any month.
The report also recorded 3,070 instances of internet control in 2025, such as internet shutdowns and the blocking of mobile applications. The Free Speech Collective said that there had been at least 16 “serious instances” of censorship in academia.
The report also highlighted the “untrammelled use of [film] certification as a tool of censorship”. It cited the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting this month denying the International Film Festival of Kerala permission to screen 19 films.
The report also raised concern about the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, the rules for which were notified in November, noting that they could endanger journalism and weaken India’s transparency regime by diluting the Right to Information Act.
