Assam's disturbing experiments in silencing dissent

What India gained and lost in its military strikes against Pakistan in May might take a long time to establish. But this much is clear – the surge of nationalism after Operation Sindoor has licensed the state to turn the screws on freedom of speech.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Assam, where the police have shown striking singlemindedness in going after journalists, critics and minorities while flying the flag of nationalism.

On July 11, the Assam police registered a first information report against The Wire’s founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan, taking objection to a news report quoting India’s defence attaché in Indonesia. The official conceded at a seminar that India had lost fighter jets in the conflict against Pakistan – a claim that the Indian government has refused to confirm or deny, even in Parliament.

The Assam Police invoked Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against the journalists, using a provision that replaced the older sedition law with arguably broader and more excessive features. However, on August 12, the Supreme Court granted Varadarajan protection from arrest.

The order should have chastened the Assam Police and convinced it to call off its drive to spot threats to India’s “sovereignty, unity and integrity” in factual news reports. Instead, it doubled down.

On the same day,...

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