South Asia

Based on data documenting 14,875 violations, the Free Speech Collective’s latest report traces how killings, arrests, mass censorship, corporate pressure and regulatory overreach combined to shrink India’s public sphere in 2025

Apart from condemning the shocking killing, by lynching of migrant worker, Ram Narayan Baghel killed by right wing goons belonging to the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS) and BJP in Palakkad, Kerala, the AIKS has demanded that the Modi Government to provide Rs. 1 crore as ex- gratia compensation to the family of the deceased

Kishore Thekedath who passed away at 89 in Mumbai hailed from Kerala and was among the founder members of the Bombay University and College Teachers Union (BUCTU) in 1966, remaining on the Executive Committee of the body for fifty years until 2016; he was also the Vice President of the Kerala People's Education Society (KPES), which has been running the large Adarsh Vidyalaya in Mumbai very well for several decades. This tribute, by Ashok Dhawale, senior CPI-M leader brings alive Thekedath’s contribution to the collective struggles of teachers and students

Clearly emboldened by some recent poll gains by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in local elections in the state, a RSS-BJP worker Aswin Raj allegedly assaulted the children and damaged their musical instrument, the police have arrested him

The bail order accompanies a temporary suspension of sentence for Sengar will walk free; it has returned public attention to the survivor and her mother's pursuit of justice since 2017; Sengar will, however, remain in jail as he is also serving a 10-year sentence in the custodial death case of the rape victim’s father

In a statement, accompanied by open letters to senior political leaders, the Bombay Catholic Sabha (BCS) has strongly condemned the “brutal intimidation of Christians in some parts of the country and increase of such act of terror during the Christmas season”

An investigation into how a nationwide network of right-wing organisations, with political and state patronage, is transforming a religious ritual into a campaign of hate, through public weapon worship in universities, police stations, and community spaces, it seeks to legitimise violence, indoctrinate children, and dismantle India’s constitutional secular order

‘This is Hindu Rashtra’ say mobsters in Odisha as vendors selling Santa hats are attacked; In MP churches observing Christmas celebrations are stormed by far right politicians belong to the ruling BJP, Delhi sees intimidation by the Bajrang Dal on women sporting Santa hats and similar attacks are seen in Rajasthan. All such incidents have invited widespread condemnation on social media. Delhi, the national capital also sees the free run of right wing bullies attacking those in Christmas attire; meanwhile, widespread protests have erupted over the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to deny Christmas Holidays to students. Clearly it is the BJP run states that have seen this lawlessness ahead of a much loved Indian festival.