Priyanka Pathak-Narain

In August 2017, a district court in Delhi approved a ban on Pathak-Narain’s novel Godman to Tycoon: The Untold Story of Baba Ramdev without hearing the defense’s case. After… More

Archana Prasad

Writer and academic Prasad was accused with nine others, including Nandini Sundar, of murdering Shamnath Baghel, who had formerly filed complaints against the group for supporting Maoists and inciting… More

Varavara Rao

P. Varavara Rao

A renowned Telugu poet and leftist intellectual, Rao has been imprisoned by multiple governments for his viewpoints. In August 2018, he was arrested with other activists accused of inciting… More

Narendra Dabholkar

Narendra Dabholkar

Dabholkar, a rationalist writer and activist, was shot and killed while on a walk in August 2013. Sharad Kalaskar was arrested for the murder, and confessed to the crime… More

Writers at Risk Database

Aatish Taseer

Taseer, a U.S.-based writer of Indian origin, faced harassment by the Indian government following his May 2019 TIME cover story profiling Prime Minister Modi. In late 2019, authorities cancelled… More

Writers at Risk Database

Rana Ayyub

Washington Post columnist Ayyub has been targeted by multiple online harassment campaigns, resulting in doxxing, rape threats, and death threats. In 2018 and 2022, social media accounts made false… More

Arun Ferreira

In August 2018, Ferreira was arrested and detained on politically motivated charges of incitement to violence along with other leftist writer-activists in a coordinated raid. His charge sheet was… More

Vernon Gonsalves

In August 2018, Gonsalves was arrested on politically motivated charges of incitement to violence along with other leftist writer-activists connected to the Bhima Koregaon case in a coordinated raid.… More

Writers at Risk Database

S. Hareesh

Hareesh, a writer, began receiving threats in 2018 after an excerpt from his serialized novel Meesha (Moustache) was taken out of context and condemned widely on social media as… More

Malleshappa Madivalappa Kalburgi

Malleshappa Madivalappa Kalburgi

In August 2015, Kalburgi, an epigraphist and academic, was shot at close range on his doorstep and died shortly after. He had reportedly upset the Lingayat and Hindutva groups… More