Background
In April, armed men opened fire in the town of Pahalgam, a popular tourist destination in Kashmir, killing 26 people, mostly tourists. Indian authorities used sedition laws and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 (UAPA) to arrest or file First Information Reports (FIRs) against journalists, academics and students who demanded accountability for the security lapse. “Operation Sindoor” was launched against Pakistan in retaliation for the attack and at least 16 civilians were killed in cross-border firing. In November, a car exploded near the Red Fort in the capital, Delhi, killing at least 13 people and injuring around 30.
Authorities deployed troops to quell protests against the Waqf Amendment Bill, resulting in the deaths of at least three people and at least 150 arrests. This law, passed by parliament, centralized state control over Muslim assets and endowments in India.
On 3 March, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights highlighted concerns about the violence and displacement in the state of Manipur and the shrinking civic space in Jammu and Kashmir; these were dismissed by the government. In March, the National Human Rights Commission was recommended for downgrading to “B” status by the global accreditation body due to concerns about its independence, transparency and effectiveness. In October, India was elected to the Human Rights Council for 2026-28. At year’s end, at least 19 visit requests from UN special procedures remained pending, including one from the Special Rapporteur on torture first requested in 1999 and reiterated multiple times since.
Freedom of expression
Authorities continued to target artists, academics and journalists through expanded censorship, weaponization of criminal laws and digital restrictions.
On 24 March, Maharashtra state police filed an FIR against comedian Kunal Kamra for a parody in his stand-up show “Naya Bharat” (New India) that referred to “a leader from Thane” as a gaddar (traitor). The reference was widely understood as a veiled reference to Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and his 2022 political defection.
On 20 May, the government revoked the overseas citizenship status of British-Kashmiri academic Nitasha Kaul. She had consistently spoken out against rising authoritarianism in India.
Amid increased digital censorship over recent years, the government forced social media platforms to block accounts that published criticism of government policies. This included the account “The Savala Vada”, a satirical meme page that frequently published content on shrinking civic space and persecution of religious minorities. On 8 July, the government ordered social media platform X to block more than 2,000 accounts from being viewed in India, including the international news service Reuters.
On 9 July, Maharashtra state government passed the Maharashtra Special Public Security Act, criminalizing dissent under the guise of public safety.1 On 6 August, the government of Jammu and Kashmir banned 25 books by respected journalists, historians, feminists and peace scholars, accusing them of “glorifying terrorism and inciting violence”.
Journalists
Authorities escalated reprisals against journalists who sought to expose corruption or voice dissent, by weaponizing criminal laws to stifle and undermine freedom of expression.
On 24 March, Assam state police arrested journalist Dilwar Hussain Mozumdar for reporting on a protest about alleged financial misconduct at a state government-run bank. He consistently reported on financial issues at the bank where the state’s chief minister served as director.
On 9 May, Nagpur police in Maharashtra state arrested 26-year-old Rejaz M Siddique for allegedly criticizing Operation Sindoor on Instagram. He was charged under the UAPA.
On 16 September, a court in the city of Gandhinagar, Gujarat state, issued notices to appear to journalists Abhisaar Sharma and Raju Parulekar. They were accused of spreading false and defamatory content to malign the reputation of the Adani group, a business conglomerate with close links to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, after challenging the sale of land in Assam to the Adani group for a seemingly meagre amount.
Following the 10 November car explosion at Delhi’s Red Fort, the Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency raided the office of the Kashmir Times newspaper, run by journalist Anuradha Bhasin, alleging activities that “threaten[ed] India’s sovereignty”. A book written by Bhasin had been banned three months prior. No FIR was provided.
Human rights defenders
Authorities continued to misuse counterterrorism and other draconian laws to keep human rights defenders in detention.
In January, the Bombay High Court granted bail to Sudhir Dhawale and Rona Wilson after over six years in detention. In November, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Jyoti Jagtap, and in December, the Bombay High Court granted bail to Hany Babu; both had spent over five years in jail. All four were among the 16 human rights activists who were arrested and detained without trial under the UAPA for their alleged involvement in the Bhima Koregaon (BK) case. By year’s end, three of the “BK16” activists remained imprisoned without trial.
Various courts denied the bail applications of Umar Khalid and at least five other Muslim students and activists. At year’s end, they remained in pretrial detention for their alleged involvement in the violence in North-East Delhi in February 2020, in which 53 people were killed, including 38 Muslims.2
On 16 May, Nagpur police in Maharashtra state filed an FIR against three people on sedition charges for reciting the poem “Hum Dekhenge” by renowned poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz. They included Pushpa Sathidar, wife of the late activist Vira Sathidar.
On 26 September, the Ladakh police arrested activist Sonam Wangchuk under the National Security Act, after a protest led by him demanding statehood for Ladakh turned violent. A day before his arrest, the licence of his NGO, Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) was cancelled under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act.
Arbitrary arrests and detentions
On 27 April, Hazratganj police in the city of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh state filed an FIR against folk singer Neha Singh Rathore. She was accused of making objectionable remarks about the Pahalgam attack on social media, in violation of various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (penal code) and Information Technology Act, 2000, relating to national security, incitement, maintaining communal harmony and public order.
On 18 May, Haryana state police registered two FIRs against Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad for social media posts about Operation Sindoor, resulting in his arrest. He was accused of violations of the penal code pertaining to maintaining communal harmony, incitement, and insulting religious beliefs. He was later released on bail.
Freedom of peaceful assembly
Authorities curtailed peaceful assembly through administrative detentions, denying permission for protests and violently dispersing gatherings calling for justice and accountability.
On 13 February, Delhi police detained 12 Jamia Millia Islamia University students. The students were protesting against the “show cause” notices issued to two PhD students in 2024 for allegedly “sloganeering without permission or intimation to university authorities”.
On 18 June, Mumbai police detained 19 people who had joined a rally supporting Palestinians at the Azad Maidan sports ground. The day before, police had denied permission for the rally leading the organizers, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist), to seek permission from the Bombay High Court. The court initially rejected their request, but ultimately granted permission two months after the scheduled date once the police had withdrawn their objections.
On 11 August, Delhi police detained dozens of political opponents, including opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, for protesting against alleged electoral malpractices without permission.
Between 13 and 18 August, Tamil Nadu state police forcibly evicted nearly 800 sanitation workers in the cities of Chennai and Madurai. The workers were holding a peaceful sit-in protest demanding fair wages.
On 9 November, Delhi police detained peaceful protesters, including children, who had gathered at India Gate to demand urgent action to address the worsening air pollution in the capital.
Forced evictions
State authorities continued to carry out forced evictions in Assam, and demolitions of properties in Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir, as a form of collective and arbitrary punishment. This was despite the Supreme Court’s 2024 guidelines directing authorities to halt such actions.
Between 12 and 17 July, approximately 1,800 mostly Muslim households were rendered homeless after the Assam state government carried out an eviction drive in the Paikan Reserve Forest in Goalpara district. The stated objective was to remove “illegal encroachments” from protected forest land. During the eviction, some residents reportedly retaliated by throwing stones, prompting police gunfire that killed one person. Residents alleged the area was only recently designated as forest land and they had not been provided with adequate resettlement or rehabilitation opportunities prior to eviction.
On 29 June, the Assam government launched a large-scale eviction drive in Uriamghat area in Rengma Reserve Forest in Golaghat district, as part of efforts to reclaim nearly 4,900 acres of reserve land. This affected at least 2,000 households, mostly Bengali-origin Muslims, who the government alleged had migrated from Bangladesh. Residents claimed they had lived in the area since the 1970s and held valid identification documents. On 22 August, the Supreme Court stayed the evictions.
On 14 November, in response to the Red Fort attack, security forces demolished the family home of the main suspect, Umar Nabi, in the town of Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir, without warning. Residents, including Nabi’s parents and other family members were asleep inside and evacuated just moments before the demolition.
On 27 November, the Jammu Development Authority demolished the family home of journalist Arfaz Daing weeks after he had exposed a cross-border drug trafficking racket allegedly linked to a police officer. Daing received only one day’s notice of the demolition.
Discrimination
Under the pretext of safeguarding women and security, state governments advanced laws that deepened discrimination against Muslims and interfaith couples.
On 20 January, Uttarakhand state passed rules enforcing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), without considering the report of a panel appointed to develop the rules. The UCC mandated live-in relationships be registered with state authorities to supposedly combat religious conversion via fraudulent marriages.
On 9 October, Rajasthan state enacted a law prohibiting religious conversion by various forms of coercion, including through marriage, with a maximum of 10 years’ imprisonment. Enacted under the pretext of preventing “love jihad” – a pejorative and unfounded belief that Muslim men seduce Hindu women for conversion – it effectively targeted all interfaith relationships, including consensual ones. On 14 February, Maharashtra state passed a resolution to form a committee to suggest steps to deal with “love jihad”.
Between 22 April and 8 May, the Association of Protection of Civil Rights, a local NGO, documented at least 184 hate crimes targeting Muslims and Kashmiris.
On 30 April, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs announced its decision to conduct a caste census for the first time since independence. At year’s end, this decision had yet to be implemented through the adoption of appropriate laws and regulations.
In May, authorities deported at least 300 Muslims living in the north-eastern state of Assam to Bangladesh, suspected of being “foreign nationals”.
On 28 May, the Assam state government announced it would provide arms licences to Indigenous People in vulnerable and remote areas, especially in Muslim-majority districts sharing borders with Bangladesh. The aim was to provide them with a sense of security.
Citizens for Justice and Peace, a local NGO, documented at least 113 incidents of atrocities against Dalits between January and June, including assaults, sexual violence, discrimination and murder.
Refugees’ and migrants’ rights
The government deepened its hostility against Rohingya refugees and Muslims. In May, following the Pahalgam attack which revived anti-Muslim sentiments across the country, at least 40 Rohingya Muslims were blindfolded and flown to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands by the Indian authorities. They were transferred to an Indian naval ship, which crossed the Andaman Sea before the group was forced overboard and made to swim to an island in the territory of Myanmar.
On 2 September, the Ministry of Home Affairs repealed four laws via a new Immigration and Foreigners Act and subsequent order, classifying asylum seekers as “illegal migrants” subject to deportation, undermining the principle of non-refoulement. The government further expanded state control by requiring prior approval for foreign filmmakers and NGOs hiring foreigners. It also mandated the establishment of foreigners’ tribunals. These had previously been criticized for rendering millions stateless in Assam due to inadequate due process safeguards.
Torture and other ill-treatment
On 4 February, Makhan Din, a 25-year-old man, was allegedly tortured by the police in Jammu and Kashmir for having a “number of suspicious contacts in Pakistan and other foreigner countries”. He later died by suicide.
Indigenous Peoples’ rights
In September, the environment ministry eased the rules around forest land diversion, weakening protections for Indigenous communities. Safeguards relating to infrastructure projects were removed, increasing the risk of displacement, especially in non-designated forest areas.
In February, the chief minister of Manipur state, Biren Singh, resigned 21 months after ethnic violence killed more than 250 people. Internally displaced people remained in relief camps, living in inhumane conditions with limited access to healthcare, sanitation and adequate nutrition.
Right to a healthy environment
Between June and September, at least 423 people were killed in heavy rains, flash floods and landslides in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and in Jammu and Kashmir. During the summer, heatwaves caused at least 84 excess deaths, according to local NGO HeatWatch. The government did not record live data on deaths in heatwaves and experts suggested that the actual number was likely to be significantly higher than estimated. Dalit sanitation workers withstood the worst of heatwaves.
In October and November, an increase in air pollution in New Delhi posed a serious risk to residents’ health, according to the Central Pollution Control Board. It made the capital the world’s most polluted city.
The Climate Action Tracker rated the government’s climate targets and policies as “highly insufficient”, stating that they were inconsistent with the 1.5°C temperature increase limit. India ranked 23rd in the 2025 Climate Change Performance Index, slipping 13 places due to continued reliance on coal and limited fossil fuel phase-out policies.
India’s first National Adaptation Plan was submitted to the UNFCCC in November.
