Free Speech

Organisers of Mumbai’s famous Kala Ghoda Arts Festival have cancelled a book discussion featuring scholar and civil rights activist Anand Teltumbde on the orders of the Mumbai Police. Participants of this discussion have also been instructed to delete all social media posts related to the event, according to a report by Scroll.in.

‘Cancel culture’: Teltumbde’s session at Kala Ghoda scrapped after objection from Hindutva accounts

04/02/2026

The lecture was organised by a Bengali little Magazine, Anustup, and was scheduled to take place on August 14. The lecture was to be delivered by renowned economist Jean Dreze, the Hindu reported. Viswa-Bharati Denies Permission for a Lecture on Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen - The Wire

While Visva-Bharati PRO Atig Ghosh said that the lecture was cancelled as it overlapped with another heritage event being held at the university, Visva-Bharati professors said that there was no such overlap.

“The real reason for the refusal to grant the auditorium is that both Amartya Sen and Jean Drèze are regarded as eyesores by the BJP-led government at the Centre,” a professor, who did not want to be named, told the Hindu.

19/08/2025

The Supreme Court on Monday (March 17) said that courts should not issue gag orders against media organisations and emphasised that fair criticism of a judicial order cannot be construed as contempt of court. 'Courts Can't Pass Gag Orders:' Says SC While Hearing ANI vs Wikipedia Case - The Wire 

A bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan made the observations as it expressed concerns over a Delhi High Court directive requiring Wikipedia to remove within 36 hours a page that related to a pending defamation suit of Rs. 2 crore filed by news agency Asian News International (ANI) against the platform, reported Hindustan Times.

The bench also questioned the Delhi high court’s order in October last year which said that criticism of a judicial order by Wikipedia amounted to “interference in court proceedings.”

“Sometimes, someone says that you are sitting here with a preconceived mind or that you are not giving a proper hearing. People say things, and we have to tolerate it,” said the court.

18/03/2025

 

Why Did Delhi Court Summon Youtuber Dhruv Rathee? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZggUtAKaHfY | Defamation | BJP | Suresh Nakhua HW News English Jul 24, 2024 #DhruvRathee #BJP #Defamation Suresh Karamshi Nakhua, a spokesperson for the Mumbai unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). His lawsuit seeks Rs. 20 lakhs in damages, alleging that Rathee's comments in a video have caused significant harm to his reputation. The court has not only summoned Rathee but also issued notices to Google LLC and X Corp (formerly known as Twitter) as parties involved in the dissemination of the allegedly defamatory content. https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/delhi-news/delhi-court-summons-youtuber-dhruv-rathee-in-defamation-case-filed-by-bjp-leader-101721807156399.html Nakhua in his suit filed against Rathi, Google LLC and X Corp (formerly known as Twitter) submitted that Rathi had on July 7 uploaded a video titled “My Reply to Godi Youtubers | Elvish Yadav | Dhruv Rathee” where he referred Nakhua as a part of violent and abusive trolls for “no rhyme or reason” in order to bring down his reputation. Nakhua had thus sought permanent injunction against Rathee and restraining him from posting, tweeting, publishing, creating or sharing any derogatory and harmful material on any online/offline platform regarding him or the BJP.