Sadaf Modak

Journalist @IndianExpress

[Sadaf Modak @sadafmodak]

From making space for heaps of physical copies of chargesheets in overcrowded jails to evidence gone digital--how undertrials are now seeking access to computers and laptops to prepare their defence.

My story today:

https://t.co/EsCsYu8U3z

[Pratip Acharya @_iampratip]

“Living here feels like staying inside a gas chamber.”

For residents of Kannamwar Nagar, Vikhroli & Bhandup, Kanjurmarg landfill is a public health emergency.

Here’s a ground report from the neighbourhoods reeling under the crisis. @IndianExpress

[Ritika Chopra @RitikaChopra__]

"If nobody caused the blasts, how did my son and 30 others die?"

Shafique Ahmed has been asking this Q for 19 yrs. Yesterday, Bombay HC set aside charges against the last remaining accused in 2006 Malegaon blast case.

His son Sajid (18) was leaving for China in 10 days to study medicine. His bags were packed. The visa-stamped passport arrived 2 days after he was killed.

19 years. 31 dead. Nobody convicted. @sadafmodak reports: https://t.co/MINByT8cz4 via @IndianExpress

[Omkar Gokhale @OmkarGokhale91]

A story on how probes into 2006 Malegaon blasts, carried out by three key agencies (ATS, CBI, and NIA), have fallen apart, with courts flagging gaps while discharging accused & leaving 31 victims' families waiting for justice.
@sadafmodak and I report.

https://t.co/L8gdNZqOm4

[Sadaf Modak @sadafmodak]

A little known law offering a unique solution within the criminal justice system for young offender and how it was underutilised.

[Ritika Chopra @RitikaChopra__]

I hadn't heard of borstal schools until this story was pitched by @sadafmodak

A British-era institution, introduced in India in 1925 — a "second chance" school for young offenders between 16 and 21, focused on education & rehabilitation rather than punishment.

Maharashtra recently scrapped the 1929 law governing the only one left in the state in Nashik. On a campus built for 105, five inmates remain. One is doing his MA.

https://t.co/xflbg9q8u4 via @IndianExpress

[Ritika Chopra @RitikaChopra__]

For days, there's been a question in our minds: Is Mumbai's LPG crisis quietly pushing migrant workers to head home?

Construction sites are running. Factories are open. The city offered no clear answer.

So my colleague @ishiwrites did something simple, but hard...
🧵(1/7) @IndianExpress

[Tabassum Barnagarwala @tabassum_b]

In Indore's SIR process we found that Form 7 was being used to target voters from the minority community. BJP workers admit that they filed bulk form 7 without verification on instructions of their leaders. Do watch. https://t.co/JQhOuApU6p

[Sadaf Modak @sadafmodak]

A sessions court in Aheri was set up in 2023 announcing that "justice system has come to the doorsteps of the tribals in Gadchiroli".

Court records show that the court with the post of just one judge was vacant twice-3 months in 2025-stalling trials:

https://t.co/yfg0sKXtVF

[Mohamed Thaver @thaver_mohamed]

Did a story on the 4000 km ‘wall’ made mainly of trees & shrubs extending from Punjab to Orissa in 19th century

It was built by British to ensure salt was taxed

A city exhibition remembers the forgotten line once compared to Great Wall of China

https://t.co/HgsmJkKbdT

[Sukanya Shantha @sukanyashantha]

🚨The Forced Guilt Project

Unconnected people, unconnected cases, unconnected “terror modules” across India.

One identical line in each plea:
“I feel guilty of the crime the NIA has accused me of.”
Part 2

@thewire_in investigation with @pulitzercenter exposes NIA playbook

🧵

[Sadaf Modak @sadafmodak]

Last week, the SC pulled up Maharashtra authorities after it was told that an undertrial was not produced in court 55 out of 85 times.

A look into how undertrials are ferried from jails to court and the gaps in the system.

https://t.co/J96lXHPNFQ

[Sadaf Modak @sadafmodak]

Hundreds languish behind bars despite grant of bail, unable to furnish cash, sureties. Some end up taking the plead guilty route to get released. The SC had flagged this issue in a suo motu petn but the solution has been hard to find.

Story:

https://t.co/d524hXM6DL

[Sadaf Modak @sadafmodak]

Clean water basic necessity, agitation for it was 'consistent with civic protest' and not criminal conspiracy, Raigad court says, while acquitting nine from a Pen village, who assembled to demand water supply.

https://t.co/T2Q3EVlRr5

[Sadaf Modak @sadafmodak]

A recap from 1992, when the city's biggest public hospital became an unlikely place for an underworld gang war.

Three Decades Later: Shadows of Mumbai underworld on JJ Hospital Shootout trial:

https://t.co/syWGbScjH6

[Vidheesha Kuntamalla @Vidheesha7]

In this Express investigation, @Nirbhaya99 and I found that JNU has featured in over 600 Delhi High Court cases since 2011 — 205 filed by its own teachers and students revealing a campus where the battle for academic freedom has turned inward.

https://t.co/C6icxWxUo7

[Tabassum Barnagarwala @tabassum_b]

First in a 3 part series: How hospital acquired infections rage through Indian hospitals and patients' family have no redressal. In Pune such an infection led to Sujata's death, in Dimapur it forced little Adrianna on ventilator support

https://t.co/f2mNFZ9H79 via @scroll_in

[Express Explained 🔍 @ieexplained]

Trump says that cashless bail leads to an uptick in crime. Researchers say that there is no evidence to support this claim. @sadafmodak explains

https://t.co/9t2SbpROFG

[Sadaf Modak @sadafmodak]

Unlike many cities which make provisions for its homeless citizens during winters, Mumbai has no monsoon shelters despite its annual torrential rains. Its existing 23 shelters for a pop. of 57K do not have easy access for those seeking temporary respite.

https://t.co/YdNM4Caut4

[Nayonika Bose @nayonikakb]

Dream of pothole-free Mumbai busted:

Even with 49% of the Rs. 17000 cr concretisation project complete, data procured by The Indian Express shows that the number of potholes have, in fact, witnessed a rise in comparison to last year.
Full report 🔗 -https://t.co/mh7qIAJtXb

[Sadaf Modak @sadafmodak]

Story: https://t.co/bEDkyrRpoa

[Sadaf Modak @sadafmodak]

RTI as a 'right to fair trial': After the chargesheet against them was filed in 2007 and the trial began in 2010, the men accused of the train blasts divided topics and sought documents from various authorities. These formed the bulk of their defence.

[Sadaf Modak @sadafmodak]

On Monday, the high court cited the RTIs filed by Ehtesham Siddique- a person an eyewitness claimed to have gone to meet didn't exist or was absent from duty that day, or had appeared for the police as a witness in four other cases.