India: Activists arrested, abducted and tortured, journalists targeted and laws tightened to increase control

India’s civic space is still rated as ‘repressed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. The authorities persist in targeting activists, journalists, students and civil society through the misuse of draconian laws, arbitrary detention, censorship and the criminalisation of dissent. Over the past year, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), counterterrorism provisions and public order regulations have been consistently deployed to silence government critics, restrict civil society, and deter peaceful protests.

On 26th March 2026, a coalition of human rights organisations urged members of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) to keep pressing for reform at the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRCI), ahead of GANHRI's annual meeting in Geneva. In March 2025, GANHRI's Sub-Committee on Accreditation had recommended downgrading the NHRCI's status from "A" to "B", citing doubts over its independence; a final decision, which was initially due in April 2026, has now been postponed to November 2026.

In the same month, India’s parliament passed the 2026 Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill that changes how transgender people are legally recognised and removes their right to self-identification.

In April 2026, Amnesty International released its annual report, stating that in 2025 the human rights situation deteriorated sharply as authorities continued their assault on dissent. Sedition and anti-terror laws were used to criminalise journalists, comedians, academics and students exercising their right to freedom of expression. Social media platforms were ordered to block dissenting voices. Peaceful protesters were detained. Journalists and activists were arrested and prosecuted, while those already detained, such as the Bhima Koregaon activists, Umar Khalid and other Muslim activists remained behind bars.

In recent months, the state has revived investigation into the Bhima Koregaon activists while labour rights activists in Delhi and Tamil Nadu were arbitrarily arrested. Eleven activists were abducted, tortured and held incommunicado in Delhi while proposed FCRA amendments will increase control over NGO assets. Journalists have been criminalised, harassed and attacked while proposed IT rules threaten to extend censorship to independent journalists. Women protesters including student activists were remanded over the Noida workers’ protest.

Association

Counter-terrorism agency investigates Bhima Koregaon activists for press club meeting

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has renewed its pursuit of human rights defenders in the long-running Bhima Koregaon case, several of whom have already spent years in pre-trial detention before being released on bail. On 29th April 2026, NIA officials visited the Mumbai Press Club , seeking documents and questioning office-bearers about a gathering held on its premises on 19th January 2026 that was attended by accused in the case.

In a statement to members, the Mumbai Press Club said that Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha, Anand Teltumbde, Hany Babu, Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawal, who are on bail in the case, had met on the terrace of the institution.

The agency's inquiry centres on whether attendees who are out on bail breached conditions barring contact with co-accused. The development followed the press club's expulsion of three of its members over the event. In the weeks that followed, the NIA moved a special court in Mumbai seeking the cancellation of bail granted to activists Varavara Rao and Sudha Bharadwaj, alleging that they had violated their bail conditions by attending the January gathering.

As previously documented, the activists are part of 16 writers, scholars and activists referred to as the Bhima Koregaon (BK) 16, who have been targeted under India’s counterterrorism law, the UAPA, due to their alleged association with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) organisation. There have been numerous procedural failings and irregularities impacting the BK-16 cases, including accusations of evidence tampering and more recent reports of the discovery of Pegasus spyware on at least one of the accused’s devices prior to his arrest.

The Bombay High court granted bail to Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor on 23rd January 2026. In May 2026, the courts granted bail to activist Surendra Gadling.

Labour rights defender faces police harassment

Shiv Kumar near Dayal Singh College (University of Delhi) without a warrant, arrest record, or explanation, and detained him for approximately 60 hours in the New Friends Colony police station.

According to The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Shiv Kumar is a prominent labour rights defender from the Dalit community and a member of the Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan (MAS), an organisation advocating for the rights of contract workers in Haryana State.

During his detention, police officers interrogated him about other activists and human rights defenders in connection with the “Lucknow Conspiracy Case” and asked him to provide false testimony against them. When he refused, he was subjected to torture, including forced stripping, severe beatings, and ill-treatment. He was then released on the night of 14th to 15th March 2026.

On 16th April 2026, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) issued a notice for questioning to Shiv Kumar in connection with the “Lucknow Conspiracy Case”, formally naming him in the proceedings.

The “Lucknow Conspiracy Case” constitutes a criminal investigation initiated by the NIA in September 2023 to investigate alleged attempts to revive Maoist activities in northern India. The case has been opened against a number of human rights defenders, labour rights activists, students and lawyers across several Indian states. The authorities have used this case to investigate alleged offences related to “criminal conspiracy”, under Section 120A of the Indian Penal Code (currently under Sec 61 of the newly promulgated Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023), and “links with extremist organisations”, under various sections, including Section 10, of the UAPA.

Labour rights defender arrested in Tamil Nadu

Easan Murugasamy, an advocate and founder of the Tamil Nadu Farmers Protection Association, had for two months been leading broiler-farm contract farmers across the state in a peaceful struggle for fair wages and better contractual terms, including a production shutdown strike from 1st January 2026. His advocacy had prompted the state government to schedule tripartite negotiations on 21st January 2026.

According to accounts from his family and association members, private broiler companies retaliated against the strike by filing false complaints against farmers and association leaders at multiple police stations, ensuring that cases were registered under non-bailable sections. On 13th January 2026, at around 10.30 pm, Murugasamy was arrested while returning home with the association's president, R. Shanmugasundaram. He was named as the first accused in an FIR registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and a state public-property law, despite not having been present at the alleged scene; both men had their phones switched off by the arresting team.

Murugasamy was held in custody through the night of 13th–14th January without his family being informed of his whereabouts. His wife, advocate Iniya, searched police stations through the night without success. Only after 8 pm on 14th January did the family learn he had been remanded to Vellore Central Prison. He was subsequently released. Civil society organisations have condemned the abuse of power and state machinery to suppress legitimate labour advocacy and the growing patterns of false cases and overnight incommunicado detention, arising from alleged collusion between the police and private companies.

Eleven activists abducted, tortured and held incommunicado in Delhi

Over 12th–13th March 2026, eleven activists - including students, labour rights activists and anti-displacement campaigners - were picked up by Delhi Police in plain clothes, without arrest warrants or notice to their families, in what civil society groups described as enforced disappearances. The activists were associated with groups including the Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM), the Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch (BSCEM) and Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan.

According to the Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), a student and a labour rights activist were seized outside a Delhi University college near a metro station in the early afternoon, with witnesses describing one of them being forced into a waiting vehicle. Later the same day, several more students were taken from a student organisation's office near the university's north campus, and another activist went missing after attending an event demanding the release of an imprisoned lawyer in the Bhima Koregaon case.

The students testified to the fact that the police inflicted brutal torture of a sexualised nature and severe psychological violence.

Civil society groups noted that several of those detained had previously been arrested, and in some cases allegedly tortured or ill-treated, in connection with earlier protests, including demonstrations against air pollution in Delhi and the farmers' movement. They warned that the authorities appeared to be escalating from arrest and prolonged detention towards abduction and incommunicado detention, and called for the immediate disclosure of the activists' whereabouts and access to their families and lawyers.

Proposed FCRA amendment will increase control over NGO assets

Amnesty International has warned that an amendment to the FCRA tabled in the Indian parliament would grant the authorities sweeping new powers over the assets of NGOs whose foreign-funding licences have been withdrawn. Under the proposal, a "designated authority" could take over, manage or dispose of assets created from foreign funds by organisations whose registration has been suspended, cancelled or not renewed.

As of 26th March 2026, official data shows that 21,933 organisations had lost their FCRA licences. Organisations working on minority rights, freedom of expression, and environmental and climate issues were among the most affected. The Financial Action Task Force found India only "partially compliant" with safeguards for non-profits in 2024, while a UN special rapporteur had warned as far back as 2016 that the FCRA's vague and overbroad provisions undermined the right to freedom of association.

Student activist Umar Khalid granted three days interim bail

The student activist Umar Khalid, held since September 2020 under the UAPA in a larger conspiracy case linked to the February 2020 Delhi riots, was granted a brief interim bail. On 22nd May 2026, the Delhi High Court, taking what it called an "empathetic view” , granted him bail, from 1st to 3rd June 2026, to be with his mother during surgery and attend to his deceased Uncle’s rituals.

Khalid had sought 15 days to attend both his mother's operation and the mourning rituals for his recently deceased uncle, but a trial court had rejected that plea on 19th May, finding the grounds insufficient and even calling it ‘not reasonable’ citing that his uncle is not an immediate relation. The Supreme Court had earlier rejected his regular bail plea, alongside that of fellow activist Sharjeel Imam, in January 2026. The riots case has kept several student activists in prolonged detention under an anti-terror law that makes bail exceptionally difficult. Both Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam have been in prison for more than five years as pre-trial detainees.

Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez granted bail

Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez who was detained in November 2021 in a politically motivated terror-conspiracy case investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), was granted bail by the Delhi High Court on 10 June 2026

The courts held that the prolonged period that Parvez spent in custody, along with the slow progress of the trial and his disability, had justified his release despite the stringent bail restrictions under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Parvez, however, will continue to remain in jail on account of another NIA case of 2020, in which he was formally arrested in 2023 while already in custody. The bail application in that case remains pending before the trial court.

Khurram Parvez has long championed justice and accountability for victims of human rights abuses, at immense personal risk. He is the Coordinator of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), Chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), and the Deputy Secretary-General of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).

Expression

Kashmir discussion attacked while university suspends student

On 24th February 2026, the Spark Reading Circle, a student collective at Azim Premji University (APU) in Bengaluru, organised a peaceful academic discussion to mark 35 years since the Kunan-Poshpora mass sexual violence case in Kashmir. Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), an affiliated student wing of the far-right RSS, entered the campus and vandalised it, scrawling slogans such as "Ban Spark", and were accused of targeting students based on their religious identity and attire.

In the aftermath, the police registered an FIR against 20 ABVP members under bailable provisions. Hours later, the university's administration filed a complaint against members of the Spark Reading Circle for holding the event without permission; the police registered a second FIR against the students under a non-bailable section and the IT Act, citing the hurting of religious sentiments. The university's own student council criticised the "asymmetry in outcomes”.

The matter escalated on 8th May 2026, when the university suspended a student from its master's programme for two years, holding her to have been among the organisers of the discussion and faulting her for not helping to defuse the situation; two other students were issued with written warnings. The suspension prompted protests on campus, with students condemning it as targeting the victims rather than the perpetrators.

Senior journalist ambushed and assaulted in Manipur

On the night of 18th February 2026, Khoirom Loyalakpa, a senior journalist and editor-in-chief of the vernacular daily Naharolgi Thoudang, was ambushed near the Hatta War Cemetery in Imphal East, Manipur. Unidentified armed men who had been tailing his vehicle intercepted it and fired at least two rounds, shattering its window, before pulling him out and beating him, leaving him with severe facial and dental injuries. He was admitted to the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences for treatment.

A case was registered and two empty .32 calibre casings were recovered from the scene, but no arrests had been made in the matter yet. The attack followed an earlier assault on the journalist at his residence in July 2024, a month after his government-provided security cover had been abruptly withdrawn.

Harassment and attacks on journalists

There have been reports of harassment and attacks on journalists according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). In Kashmir, on 14th January 2026, Bashaarat Masood, an assistant editor with The Indian Express, was called to the Cyber Police Station in the city of Srinagar for questioning about a report he wrote on reaction to a police exercise seeking information about the region’s mosques and their management. On 19th January, a Srinagar-based correspondent for the Hindustan Times, Ashiq Hussain, was also summoned by police in connection with his reporting. Hussain did not comply with the summons, citing a lack of clarity from police about the basis for the questioning.

In February 2026, investigative journalist Ravi Nair was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for defamation over social media posts critical of the Adani Group. On 10th February, a magistrate’s court in the western state of Gujarat convicted Nair and sentenced him to jail and a fine of 5,000 rupees (USD 55) for his posts between October 2020 and July 2021 on the X platform and articles on the Australian nonprofit Adani Watch investigative site. Adani Group, owned by billionaire Gautam Adani, has come under sustained scrutiny over allegations of financial irregularities, which it has denied.

In April 2026, unidentified assailants pelted the office of daily newspaper Asomiya Pratidin in North Lakhimpur with stones, shattering windows and damaging the newsroom. The attack followed comments by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, in which he criticised the publication and allegedly threatened its parent company’s chairperson, Jayanta Baruah.

In the same month, the Intelligence Department of the Police in the southern state of Telangana issued a formal notice to social media company X requesting the registration details, usage logs, and activity data of the account @TeluguScribe, which provides anonymous coverage of the state’s politics and is known to post content critical of its Indian National Congress government. The notice cites Section 43F of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), India’s main counterterrorism law, which compels individuals and organisations to release information requested by an investigating officer, and carries a penalty of up to three years in prison for non-compliance.

Kashmiri journalist spends three years in pre-trial detention

March 2026 marked three years since the journalist and human rights defender Irfan Mehraj was detained without trial. He was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on 20th March 2023 under the Indian Penal Code and the UAPA on charges his supporters describe as politically motivated and fabricated, reportedly for his association with the prominent human rights defender Khurram Parvez. He is the founding editor of the online Wande Magazine and has written extensively about issues of human rights violations in Kashmir.

India fell to 157th of 180 countries in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on 30th April 2026, a drop of six places from 151st the previous year. RSF attributed India's decline to rising violence against journalists, highly concentrated media ownership, and the weaponisation of national security laws.

Proposed IT rules threaten to extend censorship to independent journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) warned in April 2026 that proposed amendments to India's IT Rules would grant the authorities sweeping powers to censor independent journalists. The draft, which was open for public consultation until 29th April 2026, would extend a regulatory code of ethics - previously applied only to large streaming platforms and broadcasters - to individual content creators, including independent journalists reporting on social media, effectively requiring them to comply with government takedown orders. The government has said the changes are needed to counter misinformation and deepfakes.

In a separate legal analysis, Amnesty International cautioned that the amendments would allow the authorities to remove content without a complaint or judicial oversight, make platforms' legal immunity contingent on following executive orders, and permit the indefinite retention of users' data. The warnings came amid a series of takedown orders in early 2026, including the blocking of a satirical video that mimicked the Prime Minister, and an order to a social media platform to block a number of accounts under the IT Act.

Legal challenge to new privacy law

In March 2026, it was reported that transparency activists and journalists are taking the ​government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to India's top court over its new privacy law, arguing the legislation will have a "chilling" effect ‌on journalism and enable officials to withhold information of public interest.

Four lawsuits are being heard in the Supreme Court following criticism from media and activists that Modi's government is diluting the Right to Information (RTI) law.

The controversy surrounds a one-line amendment to the RTI ⁠law that came into force in November 2025 with the new privacy law, called the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, and excludes any "personal information" from release. Previously, the ​law allowed officials to release such information in "public interest".

The lawsuits argue the change to the law should be quashed, because it would allow the ​government to deny the release of critical information of public interest, and undermine constitutional principles.

Repression in Kashmir

Restrictions on freedom of expression were reported in Kashmir. In March 2026, authorities throttled mobile internet and suspended mobile connectivity. Thy also registered a criminal case against Javid Ahmad Khanday of Sazan Keegam, Shopian for sharing videos on social media. In April 2026, The Wire reported that Indian authorities flagged seven X accounts reporting on human rights issues in IAK as “anti-India” (including the #FreeKhurram campaign) and ordered the disclosure of associated data, including subscriber details, IP addresses and GPS location data.

Peaceful Assembly

Women protesters including student activists remanded over Noida workers’ protest

Police were accused of excessive force during a protest on 13th April 2026 by factory workers in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, over low wages and poor working conditions. They were demanding wage parity with neighbouring Haryana, which had announced a sharp increase in its minimum wage.

Following the unrest, the police registered seven first information reports (FIRs) and detained more than 300 people. The state's chief minister, belonging to the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Yogi Adityanath, characterised the violence as a "conspiracy", and the authorities asserted that many of those arrested were outsiders rather than factory workers.

At least seven activists, including three women, two of them student activists in their twenties, were named among the key accused and remanded to police custody over their alleged role in orchestrating the violence. By mid-May 2026, at least 13 FIRs had been registered across several police stations, with charges ranging from attempted murder and criminal conspiracy to offences under the Information Technology (IT) Act and detention under the draconian National Security Act (NSA).

On 13th May 2026, the authorities invoked the draconian National Security Act (NSA) against two activists arrested in connection with the Noida workers’ protest. The NSA has been imposed on two Mazdoor Bigul activists, Akriti Choudhary and Satyam Verma. On 4th June 2026, they were denied bail.

Civil society groups say the case reflects a wider pattern in which workers' wage demands, the solidarity of student activists and the presence of journalists were collectively recast as a criminal conspiracy. Lawyers and families alleged that several of those held had been taken into custody without due process.