a pattern of escalating press freedom violations in Uttar Pradesh, use of the Epidemics Diseases Act of 1897 to pressurise journalists, and democratic backsliding in India. Between April 2020 and June 2021, four separate FIRs alleging false information were lodged by the Uttar Pradesh Police against various journalists working for the news outlet, including against one of its founding editors. According to Reporters sans frontieres, the cases had no tangible evidence and amounted to harassment through litigation. In September 2021, the Supreme Court of India responding to a petition against the FIRs, extended a 2 month protection from arrest to the journalists at The Wire over press freedom concerns but declined to quash them, instead directed the petitioners to approach the Allahabad High Court stating that it would set a bad precedent and open a floodgate of quashing petitions under Article 32, which grants the right to constitutional remedies for violation of fundamental freedoms. Bharat Biotech In February 2022, Bharat Biotech filed a defamation lawsuit of against The Wire and its editors over 14 articles that had reported on the pharmaceutical company and Covaxin, the Covid-19 vaccine developed by it. The defamation suit also named all those who had contributed to the articles which included several journalists and medical professionals. The lawsuit was filed at a local district court in Rangareddy, Telangana where an additional district judge passed an ex parte injunction, a restraining order directing the news publication to take down its articles within the next 48 hours. The court said that the articles published by The Wire would lead to vaccine hesitancy. The editor-in-chief of The Wire stated that they would challenge the legality of the order as no notice was served to them and the organisation was not given an opportunity to defend itself against Bharat Biotech's allegations. References External links 2015 establishments in Delhi Indian news websites Publications established in 2015