Free Speech Collective (FSC), has published a detailed report of Bihar’s Free Speech Record, November ‘20-’25 which it released on November 5 and may be accessed here
Free Speech Collective
With Bihar in the midst of Vidhan Sabha elections, 2025, this media tracker exposes the illusion of free speech and independent journalism in the state. The last five years have been marked with assaults on journalists, with six killings and eleven instances of attacks. The general climate for free speech has also been affected by detention and arrest of journalists and threats to editors of prominent dailies, coupled with defamation and censorship of social media posts.
(Visit the Free Speech Tracker or scroll to the end for more details.)
By 2015, when Nitish Kumar was re-elected as Chief Minister, several independent journalists began using social media platforms to publish stories, and alongside began facing reprisal. By 2020, when the Nitish Kumar government was re-elected as part of the JDU-led NDA along with the Bharatiya Janata Party, repression on the media continued unabated, this time targeting social media.
Bihar struggles with low socio-economic indicators. It consistently throws up high unemployment rates and there is an abject lack of facilities for health and education. In the NITI Aayog 2019-20 State Health Index, Bihar was ranked 18th out of 19 large states. In March 2025, Niti Aayog’s Macro and Fiscal Landscape of the State of Bihar said that the sex ratio is lower than the national average. Low literacy levels and low per capita income and high unemployment, forces lakhs of youth to migrate every year. With little or no industries, agriculture is a mainstay and government employment is a desperate struggle for thousands of youth. In NITI Aayog’s SDG India Index of 2023-24, Bihar was adjudged the worst performer in terms of social, economic and environmental parameters.
The large-scale deletion of voters in Bihar in the run up to the Assembly election, ostensibly to revise the electoral rolls, is bound to have an impact on the polls. But the slow erasure of an independent media that can question and hold its government accountable can only further weaken the foundations of a democracy.
Details of Free Speech Violations in Bihar, November ’20-’25:
| Number of Instances | Category of Free Speech Violation | Date | Title | Link |
| 1 | Attacks | 6-May-25 | District Public Relations Officer (DPRO), Gupteshwar Kumar assaulted Pramod Kumar, reporter of Dainik Bhaskar | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/attacks/district-public-relations-officer-dpro-gupteshwar-kumar-assaulted-pramod-kumar-reporter-of-dainik-bhaskar/ |
| 1 | Attacks | 26-Mar-25 | Bihar: Journalist Krishnandan assaulted during election campaign in Magadh Mahila College | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/attacks/bihar-journalist-krishnandan-assaulted-during-election-campaign-in-magadh-mahila-college/ |
| 1 | Killings | 25-Jun-24 | Journalist Shivshankar Jha fatally stabbed in Bihar | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/killings/journalist-shivshankar-jha-fatally-stabbed-in-bihar/ |
| 2 | Attacks | 3-Mar-24 | Bihar: Journalists attacked, belongings snatched during Mahagathbandhan rally in Patna | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/attacks/bihar-journalists-attacked-belongings-snatched-during-mahagathbandhan-rally-in-patna/ |
| 1 | Lawfare, Defamation | 23-Feb-24 | Defamation case filed against Aroon Purie, India Today group head | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/lawfare/defamation-case-filed-against-aroon-purie-india-today-group-head/ |
| 2 | Attacks | 18-Feb-24 | Mob attacks cops, journalists in Bihar after missing woman’s body found | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/attacks/mob-attacks-cops-journalists-in-bihar-after-missing-womans-body-found/ |
| 1 | Threats | 30-Dec-23 | Prabhat Khabar’s editor-in-chief Ashutosh Chaturvedi has received a threat from Birsa Munda Central Jail | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/threats/prabhat-khabars-editor-in-chief-ashutosh-chaturvedi-has-received-a-threat-from-birsa-munda-central-jail/ |
| 1 | Killings | 18-Aug-23 | Dainik Jagran journalist Vimal Kumar Yadav murdered in Bihar’s Araria district | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/killings/dainik-jagran-journalist-vimal-kumar-yadav-murdered-in-bihars-araria-district/ |
| 1 | Attacks | 24-May-23 | Senior journalist Sagar Suraj attacked in Motihari | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/attacks/senior-journalist-sagar-suraj-attacked-in-motihari/ |
| 1 | Attacks | 7-Jan-23 | Bihar Journalist Rajesh Anal Shot At By Criminals, Hospitalised With Severe Injuries | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/attacks/bihar-journalist-rajesh-anal-shot-at-by-criminals-hospitalised-with-severe-injuries/ |
| 1 | Attacks | 11-Oct-22 | Journalist Ravi Shankar shot at in Patna | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/attacks/journalist-ravi-shankar-shot-at-in-patna/ |
| 1 | Attacks | 12-Aug-22 | Journalist, Anup, covering person’s death owing to illicit liquor beaten up by police in Bihar’s Saran | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/attacks/journalist-anup-covering-persons-death-owing-to-illicit-liquor-beaten-up-by-police-in-bihars-saran/ |
| 1 | Killings | 19-Aug-22 | Journalist Gokul Yadav shot dead | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/killings/journalist-gokul-yadav-shot-dead/ |
| 3 | Lawfare, Detention | 19-Jun-22 | Journalist Amir Hamza arrested while covering Agnipath protests and three others detained | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/arrests/journalist-amir-hamza-arrested-while-covering-agnipath-protests-and-three-others-detained/ |
| 1 | Arrests | 19-Jun-22 | Journalist Amir Hamza arrested while covering Agnipath protests and three others detained | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/arrests/journalist-amir-hamza-arrested-while-covering-agnipath-protests-and-three-others-detained/ |
| 1 | Killings | 20-May-22 | Journalist Subhash Kumar Mahto fatally shot outside his home | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/killings/journalist-subhash-kumar-mahto-fatally-shot-outside-his-home/ |
| 1 | Killings | 12-Nov-21 | Body Of Buddhinath (Avinash) Jha, Bihar Journalist, RTI Activist Found Burned, Tossed By Roadside | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/killings/body-of-buddhinath-avinash-jha-bihar-journalist-rti-activist-found-burned-tossed-by-roadside/ |
| 1 | Killings | 10-Aug-21 | Bihar: Mutilated body of journalist Manish Kumar Singh found three days after he went missing | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/killings/bihar-mutilated-body-of-journalist-manish-kumar-singh-found-three-days-after-he-went-missing/ |
| 1 | Attacks | 2-Aug-21 | Bihar: Doctor assaults journalist Shahnawaz Hussain while reporting | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/attacks/bihar-doctor-assaults-journalist-shahnawaz-hussain-while-reporting/ |
| 1 | Lawfare, General | 29-May-21 | FIR Against Bihar Journalist Umesh Pandey for News Reports on Union Minister Ashwini Choubey | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/lawfare/fir-against-bihar-journalist-umesh-pandey-for-news-reports-on-union-minister-ashwini-choubey/ |
| 1 | Lawfare, General | 25-May-21 | Complaint filed against journalist Ranjan Sinha by Bihar Police for reporting on mismanagement in COVID ward | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/lawfare/complaint-filed-against-journalist-ranjan-sinha-by-bihar-police-for-reporting-on-mismanagement-in-covid-ward/ |
| 2 | Lawfare, General | 20-Feb-21 | Two journalists, both called Utkarsh Singh, booked by Bihar police | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/lawfare/two-journalists-both-called-utkarsh-singh-booked-by-bihar-police/ |
| 1 | Policies/Regulations | 23-Jan-21 | Criticise Nitish Kumar govt on social media, land in jail | https://freespeechcollective.in/free-speech-tracker/policies-regulation/criticise-nitish-kumar-govt-on-social-media-land-in-jail/ |
Read FSC’s special features:
Wanted: A Responsible Media in Bihar, by Kiran Shaheen.
Criminalisation of politics in Bihar, by C P Jha.
Related:
From Welfare to Expulsion: Bihar’s MCC period rhetoric turns citizenship into a campaign weapon
Bihar Elections Build-up: ‘Won’t allow namaz’, ‘namak haram’, BJP MPs’ communal hate-filled remarks draw fire
Caste and Indifference: Two separate incidents of rape against minor Dalit girls in UP and Bihar receive no media coverage, protest or outrage
