Writers at Risk Database

Anand Teltumbde

Leading public intellectual and Dalit activist Teltumbde was charged with inciting caste violence in the village of Bhima Koregaon in 2018, though reports indicate police initiated the conflict. He… More

Writers at Risk Database

Aseem Trivedi

Trivedi launched the campaign Cartoons Against Corruption in 2011. In January 2012, he was charged with sedition and defamation in connection with his cartoons and spent the majority of… More

Swathi Vadlamudi

Vadlamudi was charged with hurting religious sentiments after posting a cartoon on Twitter that alludes to far-right Hindu demonstrations calling for the release of suspected perpetrators of the gang-rape… More

Hafiz Ahmed

Hafiz Ahmed is one of the “Miya” (Bengali-language Muslim) poets charged in July 2019 after the online publication of his poem, "I am Miya," which authorities claimed promoted sectarian… More

Abdul Kalam Azad

Azad is one of the “Miya” (Bengali-language Muslim) poets charged in July 2019 after the online publication of a poem by Hafiz Ahmed that authorities claimed promoted sectarian enmity… More

Writers at Risk Database

Srijato Bandyopadhyay Srijato

In January 2019, a group reportedly led by a member of the All Assam Bengali Hindu Association stormed an event where Bandyopadhyay, a poet previously under police investigation, was… More

Forhad Bhuyan

Bhuyan is one of the “Miya” (Bengali-language Muslim) poets charged in July 2019 after the online publication of a poem by Hafiz Ahmed that authorities claimed promoted sectarian enmity… More

Banamallika Choudhury

In July 2019, a police report was filed against Choudhury and other “Miya” (Bengali-language Muslim) poets after the online publication of a poem by Hafiz Ahmed that authorities claimed… More

Govind Pansare

Govind Pansare

Politician and writer Pansare was shot on February 16, 2015 and died four days later. His murder investigation implicated the right-wing group Sanatan Sanstha and was linked to the… More

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