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

Damodar Mauzo

When investigating the 2017 murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, police investigators received intelligence that Mauzo, a writer, was another potential target. Goa police have provided him with a security… More

Kamalsy Najmal Kamalsy Prana

Malayalam writer and theater activist Najmal was arrested for allegedly insulting the Indian national anthem in a Malayalam-language Facebook post in December 2016. He was released after three days,… More

Writers at Risk Database

Gautam Navlakha

Writer and human rights activist Navlakha was one of many writers and activists arrested for “inciting caste violence” in the village of Bhima Koregaon in August 2018. He was… 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

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