The Decline of Press Freedom in India

In India, outrage and riots started earlier this months in a row about comments out of the country's leading party about the prophet Mohammed. While India's ruling Baratiya Janata Party has been in damage control mode with Muslim nations, religious tensions between Hindus and Muslim have been spiraling at home.

One incident that has caught international attention is the arrest of Muslim journalist Mohammed Zubair. Zubair had been among the first journalists to point out the controversial statements by BJP spokespeople on the Muslim prophet which ended up causing international outrage, according to The Washington Post. He is being accused of having published writing hostile to Hindus in a tweet which dates back to 2018.

International organization Reporters Without Borders is meanwhile cautioning that the freedom of the press in India is decreasing. As seen in the annual index it published, press freedom in India declined slowly since 2012 before taking a dip down this year. With press freedom deteriorating all over the world, India nevertheless fell ten ranks from 140th place to 150th place in the world over the same time period.

Meanwhile, more clashes between Muslims and Hindus in the Western state of Rajasthan left one man dead. Last week, one teenager died in riots in Jharkhand's Rachi.