Kashmiri journalist Majid forced to seek court protection after police death threats: RSF
Srinagar : Kashmiri freelance journalist Majid Hyderi fled from police and sought refuge in a courtroom after officers threatened he would be “killed under mysterious circumstances” if he did not withdraw a complaint, exposing the continued crackdown on press freedom in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Hyderi was detained under the draconian Public Safety Act for 527 days on fabricated charges after exposing corruption in the local administration.
Though freed by a High Court verdict a year ago, police harassment never stopped. On 17 February 2026, senior police officers summoned him, held him “all day without food or water,” and pressured him to withdraw a petition he filed citing a “threat to life.”
When he refused at the High Court, officers tried to drag him by force and threatened him with death.
“Finding no other option, I literally jumped into a courtroom where hearings were underway and cried before the judge,” Hyderi told RSF. The judge ordered protection and the High Court on March 2 barred authorities from harassing him without due process.
RSF condemned the acts, demanding an independent probe and immediate protection. “No journalist should have to seek refuge in a courtroom to escape police threats and ask a judge to save their life,” RSF said.
Hyderi, who works with News Tell, fears the “pause” is temporary: “I fear that I will be killed soon or jailed in a fake case because it is the only way to keep me silenced.”
RSF noted that “criticism of government policies could not justify preventive detention.” RSF added that since 2019, the police crackdown on reporters in IIOJK has been “characterised by surveillance, intimidation and arrests,” turning the territory into “not just a news desert, but a black hole.
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