Penalised for trading freely.

The groups below follow the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom: 12 freedoms in 4 pillars — rule of law, government size, regulatory efficiency, open markets. India scores 52.5, 132nd of the ranked economies, “mostly unfree” — and scores lowest in the areas where these cases arise: financial freedom 40.0, investment freedom 40.0, property rights 48.3. Seven freedoms, nine groups: the ones where these enforcement actions arise. Government size is left out — the state doesn’t jail you for its own budget.

A record qualifies when the state has prosecuted, penalised, detained, seized from or convicted a person for a peaceful economic act in one of the nine groups above — the kind of activity the top-ranked Heritage economies largely allow, although their exact rules differ. Cases that also allege cheating of private persons, violence or theft of public goods are left out. Each record says what the court or authority actually did and presumes nothing beyond it.

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.