Defying censorship, the reporter who exposed the killings
In 1984, Brahma Chellaney was a 27-year old correspondent for the wire service, Associated Press. He had managed to defy the media blackout in the summer of 1984 to stay on in Amritsar, becoming the only foreign correspondent to cover Operation Blue Star.
His story, front-paged in major international publications like The Times of London on June 14 that year, reported that over 1200 people militants, civilians and security personnel had died during the operation. This was double the official figures. Mr. Chellaney also highlighted the presence of sophisticated weapons in the arsenal of the militants.
But the second element which angered the establishment was the claim in the report that several young Sikhs had been shot, with their hands tied behind their backs. The report quoted medical sources, who had conducted the post-mortem.
Mr. Chellaneys report was used only in the foreign press, and AP claimed that given the censorship, it had taken steps to ensure that the report did not appear in Indian media. Similar reports were to be published in India Today and the Indian Express, among others, in the following weeks and months.
But the government was furious. It slammed preliminary charges of sedition, inciting communal discord and hatred, and violating press censorship on Mr. Chellaney. The police issued a warrant, searched his home, and visited AP offices. His passport was impounded, and press credentials not renewed. The case went to the Supreme Court, which instructed the police not to arrest him but asked Mr. Chellaney to cooperate in the investigations. He was to remain on temporary bail through the period, but was subjected to over 35 hours of interrogation. He was pressured to reveal his sources, which he refused to do, citing journalistic ethics and the constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press.
There was a backlash, both domestically and internationally. The AP Managing Editors Association asked the government to cease all proceedings, underway and contemplated against their correspondent, adding responsible Indian officials had corroborated the news dispatches. In an editorial, Truth on Trial, in October that year, The New York Times said Mr. Chellaney had provoked displeasure by doing his job too well, and what was at issue was not just censorship, but vindictiveness. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) protested the continued harassment of Mr. Chellaney.
In September 1985, the government finally dropped the charges, and renewed Mr. Chellaneys passport and press credentials. The New York Times lauded the decision, saying then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had written the right ending to the case where Mr. Chellaneys only offenses were enterprise and accuracy. Fresh revelations in a new documentary have only vindicated his story. He was travelling outside the country and did not offer comments on how he looked back at the episode, 29 years later.
Mr. Chellaney moved on from journalism to academia, and is now a well-known strategic affairs analyst.
Original post:
Defying censorship, the reporter who exposed the killings
- China Censors Trump's Bomb Threat on Beijing - Newsweek - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Review | How censors tried and failed to keep LGBT voices out of the movies - The Washington Post - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- UN AI summit accused of censoring criticism of Israel and big tech over Gaza war - Geneva Solutions - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- From gr*pists to nip nops, how self-censorship shapes the language of TikTok : Code Switch - NPR - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Corrido Censorship: The paradox of funding and criminalizing cartel stories - The Oakland Post - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- 'Ready or Not' Devs Unveil a Mod to Remove Censorship In-Game For a More Brutal Experience - player.one - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Centre flays X over 'censorship' claim, says platform delayed unblocking accounts - Times of India - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Turkey blocks Grok content, becoming first country to 'censor' the AI chatbot - Middle East Eye - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- X blasts India censorship order on thousands of accounts - New Age BD - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- 'JSK' Producer Suresh Kumar On Its Censorship: All Issues Began With 'L2: Empuraan' - The Hollywood Reporter India - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Some patriotic reflections on Independence Day - The Verge - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- AI, Fair Use, and the Arsenal of Democracy - RealClearDefense - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Democratic nomination for Ithaca Common Council seat decided by just 11 votes - WSKG - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- A Summer Reading List for Americas 250th Anniversary - Ash Center - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- DEEP DIVE: $500 MILLION IN MEDIA FUNDING. BUT WHO'S CALLING THE SHOTS BEHIND THE HEADLINES? Its not just censorship its coordination. In Episode 2 of... - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Emergency: The Indian cartoonist who fought the censors with a smile - BBC - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Media in the Balkans: the rise of oligarchs - Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- From Censorship to Fascism to Extermination: PW Talks with Will Potter - Publishers Weekly - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- 'There is real fear': How Israel's attack on Iran enabled an assault on press freedoms - Middle East Eye - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Vilifying the Vylans or: How I learned to stop censoring and call for death to the BBC - Freedom News - - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Ready Or Not Studio Reveals What Exactly Has Been Censored And It's Not A Lot - TheGamer - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- The EUs Internet Law, a Blueprint for Global CensorshipIncluding on American Platforms? - The Daily Signal - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Blasphemy, Censorship, and the Future of Free Expression in Britain - Quillette - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Ready or Not Dev Releases Before-and-After Screenshots as It Battles Against Censorship Backlash and Steam Review-Bomb Campaign - IGN - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- The humanities must have a role in overseeing AI censorship - Times Higher Education - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- YouTube, Trump Having Productive Discussions Over Censorship Case - The Information - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- 'Warned Not to Talk About It': Overseas Boys' Love Censorship Is Sending Young Women to Jail - Comic Book Resources - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- China is rushing to develop its AI-powered censorship system - Global Voices - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Gov. McKee signs Freedom to Read Act into law - Rhode Island Current - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- 'Ill-conceived from the beginning': Judge ridicules Trump admin for 'slapdash' censorship of public health websites - Law and Crime News - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- How censorship affects the artistic expression in film - Times of India - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- What is The Ready or Not Censorship Controversy? Review Bombing Explained - Insider Gaming - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Self-censorship and the spiral of silence - Insight News - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Louisiana wants to censor citizen science, but residents are fighting back - News From The States - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- The many complex truths within the censoring of youth parliament - The Spinoff - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Free Speech Victory in Australia for Billboard Chris as X post censorship overturned - Alliance Defending Freedom International - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Read this: Pixar's self-censorship of Elio's queer themes may have doomed it - Yahoo - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- China is rushing to develop its AI-powered censorship system - Global Voices Advox - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- 'The censorship is a step too far': Ready or Not is getting review bombed after developers sanitise the game to adhere to stricter console standards -... - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Keep Them On The Shelf - The Progressive - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- SCOTUS Ruling Condoning Book Censorship Is a Grave Misjudgment. - GLAAD - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Read this: Pixar's self-censorship of Elio's queer themes may have doomed it - AV Club - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- How the Internet Works, and How China Censors It - ChinaFile - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- New Study from ChinaFile | The Locknet: How China Controls Its Internet and Why It Matters - Asia Society - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- The Witcher, The Bad Batch, and Cosmic Censorship - GamingTrend - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- The Censor Board Is A Back-Door For Govt To Control The Film World: Director Of Stalled Movie On Slain Punjabi Activist - article-14.com - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Censorship? Ready or Not eliminates nudity and reduces violence to hit consoles - Toy News Online - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Ready Or Not Will Be Censored Before Launching On Consoles, And It Could Even Affect The PC Version - TheGamer - June 29th, 2025 [June 29th, 2025]
- Nonviolence and the Battle Against Self-Censorship - Pressenza - International Press Agency - June 29th, 2025 [June 29th, 2025]
- Kneecap Defy Censorship Threats with Provocative Glastonbury Set - Consequence of Sound - June 29th, 2025 [June 29th, 2025]
- WATCH | Joseph Maximilliam Dunnigan On How Censorship Of Books Exists Across The World, From The US To China - Outlook India - June 29th, 2025 [June 29th, 2025]
- Artist Ai Weiwei: Democracy and freedom do not necessarily enable the creation of great art - - June 29th, 2025 [June 29th, 2025]
- Baihe and Danmei: Chinese GL and BL in an Age of Censorship - Daily Kos - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Death by a thousand cuts in Hong Kong - Index on Censorship - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- In an act of political censorship, Deutsche Bank terminates publisher Mehring Verlags account - World Socialist Web Site - June 26th, 2025 [June 26th, 2025]
- The photographer using AI to reconstruct stories lost to censorship - The Verge - June 26th, 2025 [June 26th, 2025]
- Bernie Sanders Roasts Joe Rogan for Siding With Government Censorship - Cracked.com - June 26th, 2025 [June 26th, 2025]
- JCDecaux and Global accused of 'censorship' of anti-HFSS campaign - Campaign - June 26th, 2025 [June 26th, 2025]
- Emergency Films: 6 Movies That Faced Bans and Censorship in 1975 - Deccan Herald - June 26th, 2025 [June 26th, 2025]
- Hotbed of digital censorship: MAGAs war with Ireland over freedom of speech - Newstalk - June 26th, 2025 [June 26th, 2025]
- Iran-Israel war: What tools are used to censor reporting? - DW - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- FTC Comments Accuse Big Tech of Widespread Censorship - The Daily Signal - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- How we are ending Irans and all other governments power to censor online - The Hill - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Amid Silence and Censorship, Alabama Students and Professors Reflect on a Year Under SB129 - ACLU of Alabama - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Iran-Israel war: What tools are used to censor reporting? - Yahoo - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Western Tech Companies Are Capitulating to Russian Censors. Here's How Russians Can Fight Back. - The Moscow Times - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Book censors and the Trojan horse of decency - Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Censorship, arrests and merger of news agencies tools to control media during 1975 Emergency - The New Indian Express - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Tunnel Vision: Anti-censorship Tools, End-to-End Encryption and the Fight for a Free and Open Internet - Freedom House - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- A Banner Year for Censorship: More States Are Restricting Classroom Discussions on Race and Gender - The Chronicle of Higher Education - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- Advocates, Authors Call for Investigation Into Florida Book Removals Without Review | Censorship News - School Library Journal - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- From LA to Letcher County, Anna Gomez takes her anti-censorship crusade on the road - Daily Independent - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- Censorship into art: why Iranian director Jafar Panahis subversive stories are getting the worlds attention - Pancouver - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- How does Israel restrict its media from reporting on the Iran conflict? - Al Jazeera - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Censorship: See the National Park visitor responses after Trump requested help deleting negative signage - Government Executive - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Why defunding research on misinformation and disinformation isnt what Americans want - Fast Company - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Oscar entry, but banned at home: This Sunita Rajwars acclaimed film faces censorship in India - Times of India - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Why Is The EU Really So Scared of Hate Speech? - The European Conservative - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- PRESS RELEASE: In win for academic Speech, OK Supreme Court says higher ed is off-limits from censorship law - Oklahoma City Free Press - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- What are the 20 most controversial album covers of all time? - Euronews.com - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]