Fascist India? Not a phrase one would hope to hear describing the world’s largest democracy. But a slew of arrests this year in India after the passage of certain information technology laws have led some to wonder what happened to the idea of free speech.

Most recently, Mumbai police arrested Shaheen Dhada, a 21-year-old college student, for posting a Facebook status criticizing a general strike called by the right-wing Shiv Sena party to mourn the Nov. 18 death of patriarch Bal Thackeray. The controversial leader had been acclaimed by Hindu nationalists but also criticized by liberals for his legacy of political violence. Thackeray frequently made anti-Islamic statements.

“Respect is earned, not given and definitely not forced,” Dhada wrote on Facebook. “Today Mumbai shuts down due to fear and not due to respect.”

Not only was Dhada arrested under section 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code that punishes statements seek to create “enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes,” but her friend Renu Srinivasan was also arrested for clicking “like” on the update. The two students have also been charged with violating Section 66A of the Information Technology Act that makes online speech “grossly offensive or of menacing character,” illegal. The pair is also charged with violating Indian Penal Code 295A, which criminalizes speech that is insulting to religious feelings. Dhada and Srinivasan could be imprisoned three years for each count.

Similar arrests in India included a woman who used Facebook to complain that Chandigarh police were not diligent enough in locating her stolen car, a cartoonist who posted online work to protest government corruption scandals, and a Kolkata professor who forwarded an email with a cartoon criticizing a West Bengal chief minister.

Many in India are speaking out against the arrests, however. Former Supreme Court judge and current Press Council of India chief Markandey Katju wrote to chief minister Prithviraj Chavran: “We are living in a democracy, not a fascist dictatorship. In fact this arrest itself appears to be a criminal act since it is a crime to wrongfully arrest or wrongfully confine someone who has committed no crime.”

Likewise, Pranest Prakash of the Center for Internet and Society says the Information Technology Act needs another review. “The current law does not have sufficient safeguards for privacy and freedom of speech and the law is being used as a tool of harassment,” he told the Christian Science Monitor.