The acquittals in the alleged Maoist-links case expose the vagueness and inhumanity of long-drawn terror litigation in India, which has also claimed lives such as that of Pandu Narote, who died in prison awaiting justice.
I realised that the more intense the sense of despair, the harder hope kicks in.
Since Independence, a number of laws have been enacted that allow preventive detention which have been widely used by all regimes against their political opponents
“The Operative Word in Mainstream Media’s Discourse For Me is No More ‘Anti-National’; it’s ‘Terrorist’”
I am enormously relieved that the separation from my only daughter, Maaysha, has ended. We can speak to each other every day.
Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit was arrested in connection with the 2008 Malegaon case. He was acquitted in July 2025, after a 17-year-long legal battle. A first-person account by his wife
We became victims of two things—unjust investigation and a media trial that was used as a weapon. The Media Trial was Deeply Painful.
The jail—and the treatment meted out to the accused—felt as though it belonged to another age, one in which the rule of law did not exist.
My arrest led to a nationwide and even international controversy on the security of the journalists operating in the Bastar region. Till date, many journalists in the region have either gone silent or are operating in the shadows of fear.
A Delhi district court granted Mohammad Iqbal bail in the riots case within three months. On March 18, 2025, he was discharged in the Babbu murder case, even as the riots trial continues
I realised that the more intense the sense of despair, the harder hope kicks in.
Since Independence, a number of laws have been enacted that allow preventive detention which have been widely used by all regimes against their political opponents
“The Operative Word in Mainstream Media’s Discourse For Me is No More ‘Anti-National’; it’s ‘Terrorist’”
I am enormously relieved that the separation from my only daughter, Maaysha, has ended. We can speak to each other every day.
Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit was arrested in connection with the 2008 Malegaon case. He was acquitted in July 2025, after a 17-year-long legal battle. A first-person account by his wife
We became victims of two things—unjust investigation and a media trial that was used as a weapon. The Media Trial was Deeply Painful.
The jail—and the treatment meted out to the accused—felt as though it belonged to another age, one in which the rule of law did not exist.
My arrest led to a nationwide and even international controversy on the security of the journalists operating in the Bastar region. Till date, many journalists in the region have either gone silent or are operating in the shadows of fear.
A Delhi district court granted Mohammad Iqbal bail in the riots case within three months. On March 18, 2025, he was discharged in the Babbu murder case, even as the riots trial continues
In Jharkhand, thousands of Adivasis have been arrested on Maoist allegations. They have spent years in prison before being declared innocent
India today has more than 4.3 lakh undertrial prisoners. A significant number of them are linked to political cases
The poet and activist was jailed in connection with caste violence that erupted in 2018 in Bhima Koregaon. He was 78 then. Though he was released on medical grounds in 2022, he is still confined to Mumbai. In this first-person account, his daughter Pavana writes about how multiple incarcerations could not break her father’s strength and soul
Women’s rights activist and professor Shoma Sen, who was arrested in 2018 for her alleged involvement in the Bhima Koregaon riots, writes how in prisons, time comes to a standstill, literally
It all comes down to one thing: compliance with the Constitution, and the freedom of expression.
More than five years after his arrest under the UAPA in the Bhima Koregaon case, former Delhi University professor Hany Babu was granted bail in December 2025. He shares his experience of prison life.
The Bhima Koregaon case is not only about those who were imprisoned. It is also about the fate of democracy itself
The systematic creation of criminal and security legislations view Adivasis as an inherently suspect class of criminals and terrorists
Death row intensifies the structured brutalities of the penal system and reminds us why the struggle against the death penalty must also include the fact of prison violence
Rupesh Kumar Singh is a journalist, currently an undertrial prisoner in Adarsh Central Jail, Beur, Patna.
A first-person account of arrests, sedition charges and NSA detention in Manipur, revealing how free speech and dissent are treated as threats.
Gitanjali Angmo, social entrepreneur and educator, shares the ordeal following activist Sonam Wangchuk's arrest under the National Security Act.
A first-person account of repeated arrests, UAPA charges and jail life in West Bengal, revealing how protest is punished through law and delay
Favour of the self-proclaimed ‘liberals’ is lost the minute religion intervenes.
In 2026—the ‘year of analog’—how will our relationship with literary festivals evolve?
Lit fests are defined by their audience. Organisers, speakers, curators are all replaceable but not the readers, not the audience
An excerpt from Sara Afreen's diary
