Freedom is the point.

A record qualifies when the state has arrested, charged, detained, penalised or convicted a person for exercising a basic freedom — speaking, writing, posting, believing or worshipping — or has stripped a legal status or protection because of it. An arrest is recorded as an arrest; the court’s findings, where there are any, are reported as the court’s.

Every record links its sources. V2 means an official record — a court judgment or order, a gazette, or a government or agency release — has been read and the record checked against it; quotes are copied verbatim. Only V2 records are published. A record that rests on news reports alone (V1) is held back until an official record is found. Each record also says what it could not confirm.

Names of private individuals are withheld unless a naming gate clears them; officials acting in office and judges are named. Coverage is being built state by state, starting with Andhra Pradesh and the most recent cases, one record per category first. A record is a documented instance, not an estimate of how often this happens. To correct a record, write to contact@copwatchindia.org with the official document. The method follows Babuwatch: record, attribute, correct.