In another brazen attack on press freedom in India by the hardline Modi government, Sanjay Raut, the executive editor of his party Shiv Sena's journal Saamana, has been booked for sedition for publishing news against the Indian prime minister.

Sanjay Raut had criticized the policies of the Modi government on Wednesday and termed the government's election process through electronic voting machines suspicious.

He had written that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won the 2018 Madhya Pradesh elections through rigging with these voting machines.

Concerns rise as Sanjay Rawat, executive editor of Saamana, faces legal action for criticizing #Modi government's policies.

Rawat's critique includes suspicions over the electronic voting process, citing alleged rigging in the 2018 Madhya Pradesh elections.#SamaaTV pic.twitter.com/3EmgSqU8Ov
— SAMAA TV (@SAMAATV) December 14, 2023

A case was registered against Sanjay Raut at Umarkhed, Maharashtra police station under sections 124(A) (sedition), 153(A) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc) and 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) of the Indian Penal Code.

On Wednesday, the Washington Post had exposed the organizations indulged in the classified operations of self-promotion of the Modi government. In January 2023, Elon Musk had claimed that the Modi government had pressured Twitter to remove anti-Modi tweets.

In February 2023, the BBC’s offices were also raided for airing an anti-Modi documentary.

In March, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's membership in parliament was also suspended for criticising the prime minister.