Data Exploration

Glossary:

Anticipatory Bail: A court order secured in anticipation of an arrest for grave offences which directs release of a person on bail when the arrest is eventually effected.

Backlash Case/Charge: A criminal case that appears unrelated to a journalist’s professional work on the surface but is believed—by the journalist or others—to be a form of retaliation for their reporting. These cases were recorded in a separate dataset.

Offence Category: The offences invoked in the dataset were bucketed into categories, established by analysing the definition clause of each legal provision, the categories of offences set forth in the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the statements of objects and reasons in special legislation.

Charged/charges: Formal accusation of criminal activity, through registration of FIR or criminal complaint. This does not refer to the stage of ‘framing of charges’ under Indian criminal procedure, unless specified otherwise.

Charged for work directly: Incidents where journalists faced criminal cases in relation to their work, all of which were recorded in the Primary Dataset.

Criminal Cases/Charges: In the context of this report, means legal proceedings initiated through either First Information Reports (FIRs) registered by the police or criminal complaints filed directly before magistrates. This definition excludes instances of assault, unlawful detention, intimidation, or harassment of journalists by state or non-state actors unless these incidents resulted in formal criminal cases.

Digital Media:  If the predominant medium of the news organization the journalist was reporting for or worked in was an online news platform, whether website or social media.

Dataset: By this we mean our “Primary Dataset,” which comprises a list of 423 criminal cases registered against 427 journalists across 28 States and Union Territories of India, with a total of 624 incidents of criminalization.

Dropped etc.,: Charges dropped, closure report filed by police (due to lack of evidence), cognizance not taken by the court or complaint withdrawn.

Editor: Journalists with the designation of Editor or Editor-in-Chief.

First Information Report (FIR): A written document prepared by the police when they receive information about the commission of a cognizable offence. It marks the official beginning of a criminal investigation.

Freelancers: Journalists who are not employed with or affiliated with a particular news organization.

Final Report (Chargesheet): A document submitted by the police after completing their investigation, detailing the evidence, charges, and conclusions regarding the accused. It is used to formally initiate criminal proceedings in court.

Incidents/Times: Some cases in the dataset implicated multiple journalists, while some journalists were implicated in multiple cases- therefore each “time” a journalist faced a criminal case was recorded as a separate incident.

Interim Bail: Bail granted by a court for a limited duration, often for medical or personal reasons or until a final decision on regular bail or suspension of sentence is made.

Interim Protection (from Arrest): Court order to not arrest the accused which may be granted as an interim relief in a petition for bail or for quashing of a case.

Investigative Journalism: A form of journalism that involves in-depth research and reporting to uncover hidden truths, often exposing corruption, abuse of power, or systemic injustice.

Journalist: Reliance was placed on the definition of a “working journalist” provided in the Working Journalists & Other Newspaper Employees Act of 1955, and includes editors, lead writers, news editors, sub-editors, feature writers, copy-testers, reporters, correspondents, cartoonists, news photographers and proof-readers working in print, television or digital news media or paper, either independently or as part of an organization. We also relied on whether individuals were described as ‘journalists’ in public sources.

Metropolises/Major Metropolises: Tier I or Tier X cities as per Government of India classification – including New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai.

News Reporting: The process of collecting and presenting factual, timely information about recent events or developments, typically in a neutral and objective manner.

NA: Not applicable.

Owner: An individual or entity that holds ownership of a media organization, often responsible for its overall operations and editorial direction.

Other Major Cities: Tier II or Tier Y cities as per Government of India classification – including Agra, Aurangabad, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati, Kochi, Kanpur, Srinagar, Vijayawada.

Primary Offence(s): The offence(s) within a FIR or criminal complaint that carry the highest potential punishment under the law. For some cases, two or three offences in the FIR/complaint had the same highest punishment. In such cases, both offences were included for purposes of tabulating the most frequent ‘primary offences.’

Pre-trial: The stage of legal proceedings before framing of charges by the court against the accused person.

Regular Bail: The release of an arrested person from custody for the entire duration of the trial, often dependent on the meeting of certain conditions.

Small Cities & Towns: Tier III or Tier Z cities as per Government of India classification – cities and towns that are not the Tier I or Tier II cities.

Stay of Proceedings: A court order that halts further proceedings (investigation or trial) in the case as an interim measure.

Trial Ongoing: A stage in legal proceedings where the trial has commenced but has not yet reached a conclusion, with the presentation of evidence and arguments still in progress.

UA: Data unavailable.

Quashed/Quashing of Criminal Proceedings: A court’s decision to annul or set aside the FIR, chargesheet, or consequent proceedings against an accused person, typically due to lack of merit, jurisdiction, or legal basis, effectively terminating the case.

Most FIRs/criminal complaints cite multiple criminal provisions. All provisions mentioned in the FIR/complaint were recorded in the dataset, without distinguishing between definitional provisions (e.g., Section 499 IPC—defining defamation) and charging provisions (e.g., Section 500 IPC—prescribing punishment for defamation). However, to facilitate analysis, the offence(s) carrying the highest potential punishment were designated as the “primary offence(s)” (and only charging provisions that prescribe punishment were classified as primary offences).

List of Abbreviations

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