Press Club of India expresses shock over police action against independent journalist Ravi Nair
The press association says this ‘clampdown on information, while at the same time journalists doing their job are having to pay a heavy price, paints a sorry picture of press freedom in India’
On Tuesday, August 18, 2026, the Press Club of India expressed shock over the police actions against independent journalist Ravi Nair in Gujarat. They urged authorities not to "undermine the very principles independent India was built on". The Gujarat police had seized devices belonging to Mr. Nair on August 17, acting on a search warrant issued by a magistrate court.
The Press Club was particularly disturbed by the fact that five devices were seized, including those belonging to Nair's son and his colleague Sachi Hegde, who had been at his residence at the time. The press body noted that Mr. Nair's son and Ms. Hegde had no connection to the case or the social media post it was based on, stating that it was unacceptable that their devices were also taken away.
The case stemmed from a social media post Mr. Nair had made about a story he co-authored in The Washington Post in October 2025. The FIR, filed by an Adani group employee, only named Nair, not the co-author or the international publication, alleging potential falsification of the story. The Press Club highlighted that this hounding of an independent journalist was unacceptable and came at a time when Meta platforms were indiscriminately taking down social media posts critical of the government.
They urged the police and government agencies to stop behaving in ways that undermined the principles of press freedom in India.
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