SRINAGAR, Kashmir — He is known as one of Kashmir’s gutsiest news photographers covering the intensifying hostility in his home region, and when violence broke out he was always among the first to the scene.

But the photographer, Kamran Yousuf, 21, has been stuck in jail since September — the victim, his friends and family say, of the Indian authorities’ strange and harsh definition of what a “real” journalist is.

Those officials insist that Mr. Yousuf is part of an international terrorist gang conspiring to wage war against the Indian security forces in Kashmir. They said he could not possibly be a journalist because he never takes any pictures of government developmental projects or the inaugurations of hospitals, schools or bridges.