In Bangladesh, litigious harassment as well as arrests of journalists are frequent. Until recently, these were carried out largely under Section 57 of the infamous Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act. The best-known instance of such prosecution was the arrest and detention of photojournalist and educator Shahidul Alam, who was in jail for over 100 days after an interview criticising the government’s handling of protestors and Facebook posts on the issue. In October 2018, the country adopted a new law, called the Digital Security Act, whose overbroad provisions are expected to further narrow journalistic freedom in Bangladesh.

In India, journalists frequently face harassment through civil and criminal defamation lawsuits, often from corporate entities or politicians, in response to coverage of corruption scandals. Also called SLAPP suits (acronym for ‘Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation’), these are intended to put a stop on investigative journalism by burdening the journalists and publications with resource-draining lawsuits, often filed in multiple locations around the country. The state also had a wide array of laws in its arsenal. Journalists are targeted under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the Information Technology Act and several provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

Journalists in Nepal face a high number of defamation suits under the Electronic Transactions Act, which has become a convenient tool to bypass press protections. As a result, many defamation cases against journalists are also filed using this act, often against the publication of critical articles online, or for reposting it on social media. More recently, the judiciary has also shown interest in pursuing contempt-of-court case against journalists investigating educational qualifications of the chief justice. The court also attempted to restrict the newspaper from doing further reporting on the issue. The new Criminal Code, which came into effect in August 2018, contain provisions that further restrict journalism.

Journalists in Pakistan face harassment form a variety of different legal instruments. These come overwhelmingly from the state, often with accusations of treason, disturbing public peace and involvement in terrorism-related activities. Most of these cases are pursued under the Anti-Terrorism Act, Electronic Crimes Act and Pakistan Penal Code. As many of the charges are serious offences, some journalists have spent months in detention and at least one of them is still in prison.

Sri Lanka has had relatively few reported cases of legal harassment against journalists since the end of the 30-year-long armed conflict in 2009. Journalists in Sri Lanka are rarely subject to criminal defamation suits as those laws were repealed in 2002. The harassment of journalists, however, comes in the form of threats and detentions by various security forces and investigative departments. As these actions are taken without pressing any charges, it is difficult to accurately document the extent of legal harassments journalists and publications face.