{
  "title": "Search: prior restraint in India",
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    "country": "IN",
    "tactic": "prior_restraint",
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  "count": 3,
  "page": 1,
  "pages": 1,
  "per_page": 50,
  "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.",
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    "country": [
      {
        "value": "IN",
        "label": "India",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 157,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 157th of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      }
    ],
    "continent": [
      {
        "value": "asia",
        "label": "Asia"
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    "tactic": [
      {
        "value": "prior_restraint",
        "label": "Prior restraint",
        "count": 3
      },
      {
        "value": "disinformation_labeling",
        "label": "Official labels",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
        "label": "Surveillance and subpoenas",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "outlet_licensing",
        "label": "Licensing and closure of outlets",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "stage": [
      {
        "value": "pressure",
        "label": "Pressure",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "silence",
        "label": "Silence",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "level": [
      {
        "value": "national",
        "label": "National",
        "count": 3
      }
    ],
    "outcome": [
      {
        "value": "reversed",
        "label": "Reversed",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "unknown",
        "label": "Unknown",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "leader": [
      {
        "value": "indira-gandhi",
        "label": "Indira Gandhi"
      },
      {
        "value": "narendra-modi",
        "label": "Narendra Modi"
      }
    ],
    "era": [
      {
        "value": "2020s",
        "label": "2020s",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "1970s",
        "label": "1970s",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "year": [
      {
        "value": "1975",
        "label": "1975",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2023",
        "label": "2023",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2024",
        "label": "2024",
        "count": 1
      }
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    "has_case": [
      {
        "value": "0",
        "label": "without a court case",
        "count": 3
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    ]
  },
  "results": [
    {
      "slug": "2024-india-court-strikes-down-fact-check-unit",
      "title": "Bombay High Court strikes down India's government 'fact check unit' rule",
      "occurred_on": "2024-03-01",
      "occurred_on_precision": "month",
      "country": "IN",
      "country_name": "India",
      "continent": "asia",
      "jurisdiction": "IN",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "disinformation_labeling",
      "tactics": [
        "disinformation_labeling",
        "prior_restraint"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "narendra-modi",
      "leader_name": "Narendra Modi",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The government said the Fact Check Unit was needed to combat misinformation about its own policies and announcements online, at a time when it separately faced criticism over content restrictions ahead of India's 2024 general election.",
      "outcome": "reversed",
      "outcome_on": "2024-09-20",
      "outcome_note": "The Bombay High Court struck down the rule, finding its key terms 'vague and overbroad,' after the Supreme Court had already stayed its operation.",
      "stage": "pressure",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 157,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 157th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "reversed",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "India's 2023 amendment to its Information Technology Rules empowered a government-run Fact Check Unit to label online content about the central government 'fake' or 'false' and require its removal; comedian Kunal Kamra and media groups challenged it, and the Bombay High Court struck the rule down as unconstitutionally vague.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2024-india-court-strikes-down-fact-check-unit"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2023-india-tax-authorities-raid-bbc-offices",
      "title": "Indian tax authorities search BBC offices weeks after Modi documentary ban",
      "occurred_on": "2023-02-14",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "IN",
      "country_name": "India",
      "continent": "asia",
      "jurisdiction": "IN",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
      "tactics": [
        "prior_restraint",
        "surveillance_and_subpoenas"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "narendra-modi",
      "leader_name": "Narendra Modi",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The searches followed the government's ban, weeks earlier, of the BBC documentary 'India: The Modi Question,' which examined Modi's record as Gujarat's chief minister during 2002 riots that killed mostly Muslims.",
      "outcome": "unknown",
      "outcome_on": null,
      "outcome_note": "No penalty or further tax action against the BBC was reported; the broadcaster's India operations continued.",
      "stage": "pressure",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 157,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 157th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "India's Income Tax Department searched BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai for alleged tax evasion, three weeks after the government used emergency powers to block a BBC documentary examining Prime Minister Narendra Modi's response to 2002 communal violence.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2023-india-tax-authorities-raid-bbc-offices"
    },
    {
      "slug": "1975-india-emergency-press-censorship",
      "title": "India imposes pre-press controls on every newspaper during the 1975 Emergency",
      "occurred_on": "1975-06-26",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "IN",
      "country_name": "India",
      "continent": "asia",
      "jurisdiction": "IN",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "prior_restraint",
      "tactics": [
        "outlet_licensing",
        "prior_restraint"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "indira-gandhi",
      "leader_name": "Indira Gandhi",
      "issue_of_the_day": "A court had found Prime Minister Gandhi guilty of election malpractice shortly before the Emergency began, and her government cited threats to internal stability in declaring the state of emergency and imposing press controls the next day.",
      "outcome": "reversed",
      "outcome_on": "1977-03-21",
      "outcome_note": "Gandhi ended the Emergency and lifted press controls on March 21, 1977, shortly before her party lost the general election that followed.",
      "stage": "silence",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 157,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 157th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "1970s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency on June 25, 1975, and the next day her government imposed pre-press controls on every Indian newspaper, requiring official clearance before publication and later forcibly merging the country's news agencies into one.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1975-india-emergency-press-censorship"
    }
  ],
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    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
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}