India: Death of human rights defender and continued repression of dissent highlights risks facing activists

India’s civil space is rated as ‘repressed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. In recent years, the government has misused the draconian anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and other laws to keep activists behind bars and fabricate cases against activists and journalists for undertaking their work. The authorities have blocked access to foreign funding for NGOs and human rights defenders, using the restrictive Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA).

In recent months, prominent human rights defender GN Saibaba died not long after his release from jail, where he spent ten years on baseless charges under the UAPA. Many other activists have remained detained for years under the UAPA. An activist faces threats in Manipur while others have been targeted in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh on fabricated charges. Civil society is facing abuses under the pretext of money-laundering or terrorism-financing while a new report highlights violations in Jammu & Kashmir. A Ladakh climate activist and more than a hundred were detained for protesting, while union members were detained for a protest in Chennai. The arrest and detention of journalists has persisted.

Association

‘Institutional murder’ of human rights defender GN Saibaba

On 12th October 2024, human rights defender and former Delhi University professor GN Saibaba, a 57 year-old, wheelchair-bound academic, died of medical complications following gall-bladder surgery.

Prof. Saibaba, who was detained and jailed under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) was released from jail in March 2024, after the Bombay High Court found the charges against him of being affiliated with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and of his alleged role in terrorist activities that led to his arrest in 2014, were baseless. The court set aside his life sentence on the grounds that the prosecution could not prove the case against him.

The paraplegic professor spent a total of 3,592 days in prison, most of them in the isolation ‘anda cell’ which is reserved for notorious criminals in Nagpur Central Jail.

As previously documented, G. N. Saibaba had a disability due to polio and had other severe health issues including a heart condition, a brain cyst, hypertension and breathing difficulties. While in prison, he was held in solitary confinement in a windowless cell and kept under constant CCTV surveillance. His health suffered a serious deterioration during his 10-year incarceration exacerbated by his detention conditions and lack of access to adequate medical care. He contracted COVID-19 twice in jail and repeatedly complained of the harrowing ill-treatment and torture meted out by jail authorities.

Human rights activists believe that his wrongful imprisonment, his ill-treatment and denial of healthcare during his imprisonment by the Narendra Modi-led Union government was responsible for his demise, calling it an ‘institutional murder’.

Continued detention of other human rights defenders under the UAPA

There are other human rights defenders who have remained in jail for years under the draconian UAPA and also died in custody.

They include those implicated on baseless charges linked to the Bhima Koraegon violence in 2018 including Surendra Gadling, Hany Babu, Rona Wilson, Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor, Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut and Jyoti Jagtap. They are accused of provoking caste-based riots and of having links with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), and have been charged under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the repressive UAPA. Seven others are out on bail.

Former Jawaharlal University scholar and activist Umar Khalid has spent five years in jail under the UAPA on baseless terror charges and systematically denied bail or has had his bail hearings adjourned at least a dozen times. Another activist, Gulfisha Fatima, has also been behind bars for more than four years. Both were involved in protests against the discriminatory Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) 2019 and were implicated in connection with the communal violence that broke out in northeast Delhi in 2020.

Stan Swamy, an 84-year-old Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist, died in a hospital while in the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for nine months under the UAPA. Swamy died in July 2021, on the day his bail hearing was scheduled. While in the hospital under police custody, he was denied basic needs like a drinking straw, sipper and warm clothes.

The authorities have arbitrarily detained Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez for three years under the UAPA. He remains incarcerated in a maximum-security prison in Delhi, in reprisal for his human rights work. Khurram Parvez is the Program Coordinator of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), a civil society organisation in Indian-administered Kashmir that has ceased to operate due to repression. Journalist and human rights defender Irfan Mehraj from Srinagar. has also been detained under the UAPA since March 2023.

Human rights defender faces threats in Manipur

Human rights groups have raised concerns about human rights defender Babloo Loitongbam.

On 8th October 2024, the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) and Front Line Defenders (FLD) called for the authorities to take immediate and effective measures to ensure the safety of Babloo Loitongbam and his immediate family and colleagues.

Loitongbam, the Executive Director of Human Rights Alert (HRA), a Manipur-based human rights organisation, has been a vocal advocate for peace and co-existence amidst the ongoing inter-ethnic violence in Manipur between the Meiteis and Kukis communities, which erupted in May 2023. Hailing from the majority community of the Meiteis, Loitongbam has continually worked for the protection of human rights and peace in the state. However, radical groups have falsely accused him of siding with the Kuki militants and have targeted him for providing legal aid to displaced Myanmar refugees seeking asylum in the state.

As previously documented, on 5th October 2023, Loitongbam’s house and residential office in Imphal was vandalised by unidentified perpetrators, allegedly the members of the radical group Arambai Tenggol. On the same day, the Imphal-based radical group Meitei Leepun also issued a boycott call against him, further escalating the threats to his safety.

In September 2024, Loitongbam faced renewed threats from the Meitei Leepun. On 22nd September, Meitei Leepun issued a warning for him to cease his peacebuilding efforts. The following day, on 23rd September 2024, approximately 50 individuals visited his house, threatening his family with severe consequences unless he limited his public appearance and stopped his human rights work.

On 23rd September 2024, Loitongbam issued a statement reaffirming his human rights advocacy, and firmly denying any links to Kuki militant groups or individuals, and called the allegations baseless and unfounded.

Police target farm union leader, lawyers and activists on recruiting Maoists

On 30th August 2024, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) searched nine locations, including the homes of a farmer union leader, several activists and human rights lawyers in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, over a Maoist recruitment case.

Among those searched were Bhatinda-based farmer union leader Sukhwinder Kaur, human rights lawyer Mandeep Singh in Mohali, human rights lawyer Ajay Kumar Singhal and Aarti in Chandigarh, human rights activist and lawyer Pankaj Tyagi in Sonipat, and Devinder Azan, president of the Inquilabi Chhatra Morcha in Prayagraj.

The complaint lodged in Lucknow in June 2023 is based on a complaint by Vipul Alok, undersecretary in the ministry of home affairs, alleging that ‘leaders, cadres and sympathisers’ of the banned CPI (Maoist) are making ‘concerted attempts’ to ‘re-energise’ their ‘decrepit influence’ in northern India.

The NIA officials arrived at Mandeep Singh’s house at 6am, banged the door so hard that the lock broke, and proceeded to search his house. They asked him about his work as the president of the Association for Democratic Rights (AFDR) (Punjab) and seized two cellphones, one laptop and five pen drives, along with a 63-page booklet on Punjabi writer Baru Satwarg.

Lawyers Ajay Kumar Singhal and his wife Aarti were taken to the NIA office in Chandigarh for further questioning. According to Front Line Defenders, after being remanded to police custody he was transferred to Lucknow and held without bail.

On 3rd September 2024, the Campaign against State Repression (CASR) unequivocally condemned the arrest of human rights activists and advocates. For the past year, the Indian state has undertaken a concentrated campaign to intimidate Ajay Kumar Singhal, with members of the NIA, Central Intelligence Bureau and intelligence agency of the state of Haryana repeatedly harassing his relatives, friends and former neighbours regarding his whereabouts.

Ajay is a prominent advocate and human rights defender with over three decades of experience working on labour rights, forced displacement, corporate exploitation of Indigenous communities, militarisation, and the rights of religious and caste minorities.

Ban on student movement and restrictive code lifted

In September 2024, the ban on the Progressive Students’ Forum (PSF) was lifted. The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) also suspended a controversial Honour Code issued by the university after criticism from all corners.

On 19th August 2024, the TISS, a university headed by the union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan as chairman, arbitrarily suspended Ramadas Prini Sivanandan, a Dalit PhD scholar and Students’ Federation of India (SFI) Central Executive Committee member, for alleged 'anti-national' activities for participating in protests.

In a show-cause notice issued to Sivanandan in March 2024, TISS cited his activism, particularly his participation in the "Save Education, Reject NEP, Save India, Reject BJP" march organised by the United Students of India in January 2024 as one of the reasons for the suspension.

This was followed by the ban on PSF, which designated the organisation as an “unauthorised and illegal forum” and accused it of “misleading students” and “defaming the institute.” The PSF had strongly opposed the anti-student policies of both the BJP-led union government and university administration. A new Honour Code was introduced shortly after, explicitly prohibited students from engaging in “political, anti-establishment, or unpatriotic discussions, demonstrations, or dharnas.” Both measures were met with widespread resistance from the student community. These attempts were seen as a direct effort to suppress students questioning the BJP-led government’s policies.

Civil society facing abuses under pretext of money-laundering or terrorism-financing

A report published in September 2024 by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global financial watchdog, pulls up the Indian government on the risk of abuse faced by the non-profit sector in India.

According to Amnesty International, the FATF significantly calls for ‘priority actions’, one of which is to ensure India’s civil society is not unnecessarily harassed and intimidated under the pretext of money-laundering or terrorism-financing.

Three points of importance flagged in the report by FATF include the inability of India’s Income Tax department to demonstrate that its monitoring and outreach prioritised the 7500 non-profit organisations identified to be at risk of terrorism financing abuse. Secondly, the FATF also notes that the burdensome registration and audit requirements that non-profits in India have to undergo are not “always risk-based or implemented based on consultations with [them] to avoid negatively impacting their work”.

Thirdly, the FATF acknowledges that the 2020 amendments to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) were implemented without adequate consultation with non-profits. Thereby, “impacting their activity or operating models”.

In addition, the report also highlights the delay in prosecutions under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) which illustrate the possibility that these laws are being misused to clamp down on human rights defenders.

New report highlights violations in Jammu & Kashmir

A new report released on 2nd October 2024, by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) documents the widespread human rights violations that have resulted from the legal changes implemented in Jammu & Kashmir since the Indian government’s unilateral revocation of its special status in August 2019.

The 50-page report, titled "Your Land is Our Land – India’s land rights violations in Kashmir", analyses the consequences of the abrogation of Jammu & Kashmir’s statehood on land-related laws and documents the impact of such changes on a range of socio-economic and political rights.

The report also details the increased repression of civic space and violations of human rights that have taken place in Jammu & Kashmir since August 2019, including the criminalisation of civil society, and arrests and detentions of human rights defenders and journalists under draconian counter-terrorism legislation.

Peaceful Assembly

Ladakh climate activist and more than a hundred detained for protest

On 30th September 2024, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and approximately 120 other individuals from Ladakh were detained by Delhi police for protesting outside the Ladakh Bhawan.

They were marching to the national capital to demand sixth schedule status for Ladakh, which seeks to provide constitutional safeguards for the region's cultural and economic interests. The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution includes provisions for the administration of tribal areas in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram in northeast India. It also establishes autonomous councils that have legislative, judicial, executive and financial powers to independently govern these areas.

According to reports. the detentions were as a result of the orders banning gatherings of five or more persons in north and central Delhi. The detainees were illegally held for more than 24 hours and then released on 2nd October 2024.

Union members detained for protest in Chennai

On 1st October 2024, police detained 912 individuals, including 850 employees and 60 members of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), for organising an unauthorised street protest in the fourth week of a strike by Samsung workers. The detainees were released later that day.

In September 2024, 1,200 employees at Samsung Electronics' Sriperumbudur plant near Chennai went on strike, demanding fair wages, better working conditions and official recognition of their newly formed union, the Samsung India Workers Union (SIWU).

With around 70 percent of the workforce participating, the strike has significantly disrupted production at the facility, which generates nearly a third of Samsung’s annual revenue in India.

Expression

Arrest and detention of journalists

In Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second term, arrests and raids on the media have persisted while foreign correspondents have faced visa uncertainty, denial of travel permits, even deportation threats. India ranks 162nd out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) World Press Freedom Index 2024.

On 7th October 2024, journalist Mahesh Langa, who works as the senior assistant editor with The Hindu, was detained in a case of alleged Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion. He was charged in a separate case in late October 2023 for allegedly possessing confidential government documents, sparking outrage from the Editors Guild of India.

Journalist Gowtham Pothagoni from the Telugu Scribe was arrested on 7th October 2024, seven months after posting a video featuring a farmer praising former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR). The video featured a farmer, Mallaya, who praised KCR and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government policies, particularly the Rythu Bandhu scheme, while expressing financial difficulties under the current administration.

Journalist and YouTuber Mithun Mishra was arrested on 7th October 2024 for allegedly “inciting” a crowd of flood-affected locals. He was reporting on the extreme floods in Bihar, highlighting the damage caused by the surging Bagmati River, when there was a protest by those affected by the flood for not receiving adequate relief measures. Mishra’s arrest also came just a few days after he had confronted the Christian missionaries running their camps in the Aurai block of Muzaffarpur. He was released on 12th November.

RSF reported in October 2024 that three Kashmiri media workers were still behind bars on trumped-up charges designed to silence them. Abdul Aala Fazili, an academic and contributor to the independent media The Kashmir Walla, has been imprisoned since April 2022, accused of authoring an article referring to the Indian presence in Jammu and Kashmir as "occupation." The founder of online media Wande Magazine, Irfan Mehraj, has been in prison since March 2023, targeted with nine charges, including "fundraising for terror activities". Lastly, freelance reporter Majid Hyderi has been incarcerated since September 2023, charged with “criminal conspiracy” and “giving false information and defamation”, among other charges.

In total, 13 journalist detentions over the past five years have resulted from arrests in Jammu and Kashmir alone, a quarter of the 48 journalist detentions recorded by RSF throughout the country.