Twenty-five books
Human Rights Watch records in its World Report 2026 that in August 2025 authorities in Jammu and Kashmir banned 25 books and raided book stores, claiming the publications “excite secessionism”.[1]
It is worth being clear about what that means. Not journalists arrested for reporting on a current event, though that has happened too. Books — including works of history and scholarship by academic authors, published years earlier, sold in shops — removed from circulation, with police entering premises to seize them.
This site keeps an annotated library of books and reports on Kashmir, with publishers and links, precisely because of that. A bibliography is not a neutral artifact in a place where bibliographies are confiscated.
Journalists
The pattern in Kashmiri journalism is not conviction. It is duration.
| Journalist | Time held | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Aasif Sultan | 2,010 days before first reaching home; over five years in total | Arrested August 2018. Granted bail April 2022 and immediately re-detained under the PSA. Re-arrested under the UAPA in a fresh case on 29 February 2024 — the same day he reached home for the first time in 2,010 days. |
| Fahad Shah | 658 days | Released on bail 23 November 2023, a court finding there was not enough evidence to try him for terrorism. Still faces trial under other UAPA provisions and the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. |
| Irfan Mehraj | 3 years 4 months | Arrested under the UAPA March 2023. Bail 18 July 2026; released 23 July 2026 — and barred from travelling to Kashmir. |
| Sajad Gul | Years, under the PSA | Detained January 2022; held under the Public Safety Act after bail in the initial case. [4] |
The Kashmir Walla, one of the most substantial independent outlets in the region, was blocked in August 2023. Its editor had by then spent 658 days in prison.
The mechanism visible in the Aasif Sultan and Sajad Gul entries is the one described in File 05: bail is granted, and a fresh detention order under a different statute takes effect before release can occur. The court’s decision is complied with and simultaneously nullified.
What the UN has recorded
OHCHR’s 2019 update devotes a section to “Restrictions on freedom of expression, censorship and attack on press freedoms”.[2] The fourteen UN mandate holders in November 2025 recorded that around 8,000 social media accounts were blocked, including those of journalists and independent media outlets, and that mobile internet was suspended — measures they described as “disproportionate restrictions on freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly.” They named Irfan Mehraj among those arbitrarily detained for years under draconian security laws.[3]
Human Rights Watch adds that authorities suppressed dissent by “briefly blocking some independent media outlets and commentators, and filing cases against academics and satirists.”[1]
Surveillance of students
The November 2025 statement records that Kashmiri students were subject to surveillance and harassment following Government directives requiring universities to collect their personal data.[3] A directive to universities to compile data on students of one ethnicity is a documented administrative act, not an allegation about individual conduct.
What closing the record looks like from outside
A small observation from compiling this site. In September 2026, jkccs.info did not resolve. The Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society produced the 432-case torture archive, the annual human rights reviews, and the casualty counts that the United Nations itself cites. Its coordinator spent four years and seven months in prison. Its website is not reachable.
That is why this site links to mirrors and archives, downloads primary documents rather than relying on their remaining online, and states where a source has gone dark. The record is being removed from the internet at the same time as it is being removed from bookshops.
Sources & notes
- Human Rights Watch, World Report 2026, India chapter. hrw.org
- UN OHCHR, Update, 8 July 2019, section V.F.
- UN OHCHR Special Procedures, 24 November 2025.
- Verification note. The detention of Sajad Gul under the Public Safety Act following bail is a matter of public record, but this site has not yet established his current status from a primary or dated source, and marks the entry accordingly rather than stating a status it cannot support. Live legal matters change; all statuses on this page are stated as at September 2026. Corrections welcome.