Background

General elections were held from 19 April to 1 June, against a backdrop of repression of peaceful protesters and systematic discrimination against religious minorities. Despite not winning the majority of constituencies, the ruling political party, Bharatiya Janata, started its third consecutive term in government by forming a coalition with the National Democratic Alliance.

On 22 January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a Hindu Ram temple in Ayodhya town, Uttar Pradesh state, on the site of Babri Masjid, a medieval-era mosque that was demolished by a Hindu mob in 1992. The inauguration ahead of the elections was marked by religious tensions in the country, leading to incidents of violence against Muslims.

In June the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF) concluded its fourth evaluation of India’s efforts to stamp out money laundering and to counter the financing of terrorism. It called on India to ensure that the restrictive measures it had put in place around the regulation and monitoring of non-profit organizations and their funding follow a risk-based analysis in line with the FATF definition.

India’s membership of the UN Human Rights Council came to an end after two consecutive three-year terms. Between 2019 and 2024 the country received a total of 83 communications from various UN experts and responded to only 20. It had accepted only one visit request since 2019 and had 19 pending, including from the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, dating back to 1999.

Freedom of expression and association

The authorities passed laws that criminalized dissent, with debilitating consequences for the rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and fair trial.

On 1 July, three laws – Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita – came into force. They replaced the Indian Penal Code, 1860; the Indian Evidence Act, 1872; and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1882. Claimed to overhaul colonial-era laws, the new laws retained problematic provisions including sedition.

On 11 April, Apple notified several users in India of potential attacks by “mercenary spyware”, including the cyber-intelligence firm NSO Group’s Pegasus malware. Iltija Mufti, media advisor and daughter of Kashmiri political leader Mehbooba Mufti, and Pushparaj Deshpande, founder of the non-profit organization Samruddha Bharat Foundation, reported receiving the notifications.

Legislative attempts to stifle freedom of expression were thwarted. Following a public backlash, in August the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting withdrew a draft of the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, which sought to expand the scope of “digital news broadcasters” to include content creators on social media channels. On 20 September the Bombay High Court struck down the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023 – that had allowed authorities to label online content as “fake or false or misleading” – as unconstitutional.

According to the Software Freedom Law Center, a digital rights organization tracking internet shutdowns, authorities imposed 40 internet shutdowns between January and December in nine states and one union territory. These blanket shutdowns were imposed to “maintain law and order” during episodes of ethnic and communal violence, farmer protests and aptitude examinations for government jobs and higher studies.

Garment workers continued to face major challenges to their right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Low wages and extreme levels of casualization of labour were endemic, especially for women and female workers from the Dalit community.

Human rights defenders

Authorities weaponized the central financial and investigation agencies to crack down on civil society organizations and human rights defenders. The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act licences of at least seven NGOs were cancelled, preventing the organizations from accessing essential funds. On 25 September the Income Tax Department cancelled the tax-exempt registration of Aman Biradari, an NGO founded by activist Harsh Mander.

On 1 July a Delhi court sentenced human rights activist Medha Patkar to five months’ imprisonment in a politically motivated 23-year-old criminal defamation case filed by the government-appointed Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. The sentence was later suspended on appeal.

On 17 October the United States Department of Justice filed charges of money laundering and murder-for-hire against Vikash Yadav, an employee of the Indian government. He was accused of involvement in an alleged plot to assassinate Sikh activist Gurwant Singh Pannun.

Journalists

The authorities continued to crack down on local journalists and imposed travel restrictions on foreign journalists by refusing them work visas and cancelling their overseas citizenship of India (OCI) status.

The OCI status of Vanessa Dougnac, a former South Asia correspondent for various international media organizations, was cancelled for her “malicious and critical” reporting. Avani Das, South Asia bureau chief of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and French journalist Sébastien Farcis were forced to leave India after the authorities refused to extend their work permits.

On 11 September, Australian filmmaker David Bradbury was denied entry into India without any explanation. He was interrogated about his documentary on the protests against the Kudankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu state.

On 26 November, Uttar Pradesh police informed the Allahabad High Court that the first information report against news website Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair included “endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India”. The police commenced its investigation into Mohammed Zubair based on the first information report.

Arbitrary arrests and detentions

Six students and human rights activists remained in detention for their alleged involvement in orchestrating the 2020 Delhi communal violence.

In the lead-up to the general elections the Enforcement Directorate, India’s primary financial crime investigation agency, arrested Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi’s chief minister, and Hemant Soren, Jharkhand’s chief minister. They were both members of opposition political parties. The Supreme Court granted them bail in September. On 8 May, Tamil Nadu state police arrested YouTuber Savukku Shankar for making “denigrating comments” against women police personnel in Coimbatore city. Following his arrest, a total of 17 first information reports were filed against Savukku Shankar, leading to his administrative detention under the Tamil Nadu Goondas Act. On 25 September the Supreme Court ordered his release.

On 14 May the Supreme Court granted bail to Gautam Navlakha, a journalist who had spent four years in pretrial detention. The charges against him, including under the draconian anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), related to his alleged involvement in the Bhima Koregaon violence. Sixteen human rights activists were arrested and eight continued to remain imprisoned without trial in this case.

On 14 June, Delhi’s lieutenant governor sanctioned the prosecution of Arundhati Roy, an internationally celebrated writer, and Sheikh Showkat Hussain, a Kashmiri academic. They were charged under the UAPA.

On 6 July, Uttar Pradesh police filed a first information report against journalist Zakir Ali Tyagi and three others. They were accused of “promoting enmity between different groups” and “making statements conducive to public mischief” for posting messages on social media about the lynching of a Muslim man in Shamli district on 5 July.

Economic, social and cultural rights

Forced evictions

Forced evictions and punitive demolitions of properties were used by state authorities from 2020 as a form of collective and arbitrary punishment following episodes of communal violence and protests. Between 2020 and 2022, over 2,840 properties, including homes and places of worship, mostly belonging to Muslims, in various states across India were demolished.¹

In November, in two landmark judgments, the Supreme Court ruled that arbitrary demolitions of properties, often instigated by the highest levels of government against Muslims in particular, were “high handed and arbitrary” and amounted to “collective punishment”.² The court declared them unconstitutional and laid down a series of due process guidelines.

Discrimination

On 7 March, ahead of the general elections, the Assam state government suspended the granting of no-objection certificates for land sales between people belonging to different religions for a period of three months. This raised concerns about discrimination against Muslims as it effectively restricted them to living in religiously segregated areas.

On 24 September the Uttar Pradesh government directed that the names and addresses of operators, proprietors and managers must be displayed at all food centres. This directive was despite a Supreme Court ruling on 22 July that refused to enforce a similar directive in Uttar Pradesh state, holding that it perpetuates identity-based discrimination.

Freedom of peaceful assembly

There were numerous incidents of unlawful use of force against peaceful protesters by police officials.

Following peaceful large-scale farmers’ protests in February in Punjab and Haryana states, Haryana police unlawfully used drones to fire rounds of tear gas to disperse protesters. On 21 February, 20-year-old farmer Shubhkaran Singh was shot dead during the protest.³ On the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, a committee was formed to investigate his death.

Over 1,500 workers from Samsung Electronics staged a peaceful protest in Chennai city, Tamil Nadu state. They demanded the recognition of their newly-formed union to ensure negotiation over better wages and work management. In response, the police detained over 300 protesters.

At least 51 people in seven states faced criminal cases for organizing pro-Palestine rallies and for posting pro-Palestine content on social media.

Women’s and girls’ rights

On 9 August, a 31-year-old trainee doctor was raped and murdered at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal state, sparking a wave of protests across the country. On 14 August, unidentified people attacked hospital staff members who were protesting.

The media reported 33 incidents of sexual and physical violence against Dalit women between January and September.

Discrimination

In a landmark judgment, a court in Karnataka state convicted 101 people in the 2014 Marakumbi caste atrocity case and sentenced 98 people to life imprisonment for torching the huts of Dalits.

In October a 19-year-old Dalit woman in Madhya Pradesh state was burned to death after filing a complaint that she had been sexually harassed. The woman was set on fire by the son of the man she had reported to police for harassment.

On 7 February, Uttarakhand state passed the Uniform Civil Code, without adequate legislative and public consultation. It replaced religion-specific civil laws on personal matters. The law was seen as targeting the customary rules followed by Muslims while not changing any customary rules for the Hindu community. On 11 March the authorities operationalized the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019. The Act legitimized discrimination on the basis of religion by failing to recognize Muslims as asylum seekers and refugees.

On 30 July the Uttar Pradesh state legislative assembly amended the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act. The amendment effectively criminalized consensual inter-faith marriages and raised the maximum punishment to life imprisonment.

Jammu and Kashmir

Khurram Parvez, a Kashmiri human rights defender, remained in detention under politically motivated charges of terrorism.

On 23 February, Nitasha Kaul, a British-Indian professor of Kashmiri origin, was denied entry to India while on her way to attend a conference in Bengaluru, Karnataka state.

On 10 May, Aasif Sultan, editor of online news portal Kashmir Wallah, was granted bail and released from prison after being held for nearly six years.

Between 18 September and 1 October, and in compliance with the 2023 Supreme Court judgment, the Election Commission conducted the first legislative assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir since the elected government was dissolved in 2019.

In June and July, in the lead-up to the elections, four renowned Kashmiri lawyers and members of the Jammu and Kashmir Bar Association were arrested in Srinagar under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA).⁴ On 12 July the lieutenant governor of Jammu and Kashmir – appointed by the central government – was given absolute control over state governance, including local administrative officials, prisons, prosecutions and law offices.

On 8 October, journalist Sajad Gul was released after being held for two years under the PSA.

Manipur

The state government failed to end continued ethnic violence between the dominant Meitei community and the minority Kuki and other tribal hill communities. At least 32 reported incidents of gender-based violence were committed against those belonging to ethnic tribal communities by members of armed vigilante groups Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Lippun. No vigilante group members faced prosecution.⁵ Houses were burned and more than 20 people were killed in the state in November.

According to media organization The Wire, a 48-minute audio file was submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs allegedly containing discriminatory remarks made by the state’s chief minister, N. Biren Singh, against the Kuki tribal community and evidence of his official complicity in the ongoing ethnic violence.

On 22 September, Meitei Lippun threatened human rights activist Babloo Loitongbam and his family for allegedly collaborating with the tribal Kuki community during the ethnic violence.

Right to a healthy environment

The government lacked adequate disaster preparedness policies and failed to effectively respond to floods and air pollution exacerbated by climate change. In November the air pollution level in the capital, New Delhi, put residents’ health at serious risk, according to data by the Central Pollution Control Board. Assam state remained vulnerable to intense floods, which killed at least 113 people in July and affected at least 3.3 million people.

The authorities failed to provide adequate support to marginalized communities affected by heatwaves, leaving at least 100 people dead and 40,000 affected. Analysis by Skymet, a weather services company, said climate change had altered weather patterns, including the absence of winter rain, which contributed to declining air quality over the Indo-Gangetic Plains, including Delhi. The Climate Action Tracker rated India’s climate targets and policies as “highly insufficient”, indicating that they are not consistent with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C temperature limit.

1. India: “If You Speak Up, Your House Will be Demolished”: Bulldozer Injustice in India, 7 February ↩︎
2. “India: Landmark Supreme Court judgement must serve as a turning point in hate campaigns against Muslims in India”, 13 November ↩︎
3. “India: The price of protest must not be death”, 22 February ↩︎
4. “India: Authorities must end repression of dissent in Jammu and Kashmir”, 18 September ↩︎
5. “India: Authorities ‘missing-in-action’ amid ongoing violence and impunity in Manipur state – New testimonies”, 16 July ↩︎