India: Brutal crackdown against students and peaceful protesters
Image credit: AP Photo/Manish Swarup via Alamy
Front Line Defenders strongly condemns the violent police crackdown on students and other peaceful protesters, including human rights defenders, exercising their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression during a demonstration held in Delhi on 20 July 2026.
Students and other peaceful protesters have been gathering in Delhi and other parts of India to peacefully express concerns regarding corruption and governance, including in relation to the leaked National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET), a medical entrance exam. Front Line Defenders is concerned by reports that those participating in and supporting these peaceful demonstrations have been subjected to excessive use of force, intimidation and criminalisation while exercising their rights.
The protests, which began in Delhi in June 2026, have since spread to other parts of India and continue despite the police crackdown. What started off as a parody of a statement of the Chief Justice of India labeling unemployed youth as ‘cockroaches,’ has galvanised into a national, youth-led movement for rights under the banner of the Cockroach Janta Party. On 28 June 2026, activist Sonam Wangchuk initiated an indefinite hunger strike in solidarity with the students, before being forcibly admitted to hospital by the authorities. Despite these developments and the broader crackdown, students and peaceful protesters, including human rights defenders, have continued to peacefully exercise their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression.
In this context, students, and other peaceful protesters, including human rights defenders, have continued to peacefully raise concerns regarding corruption and governance. In the aftermath of the crackdown on 20 July 2026, protesters called for accountability for the reported excessive use of force committed against students, particularly Lathi charges, and the use of tear gas and water cannon. They have also called for for the removal of criminal complaints and other legal measures reportedly brought against several protesters. While the protests have remained largely peaceful, concerns have been raised about actions that could undermine their peaceful character or be used to justify further restrictions and the use of force against demonstrators.
Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned by reports of excessive use of force, criminalisation and disinformation by the Indian authorities targeting students and other peaceful protesters, including human rights defenders. This reaction is part of a longstanding pattern of restrictions, criminalisation and reprisals against peaceful dissent and human rights defenders in India, including those working on the rights of minorities, Dalit or Indigenous communities who have been targeted for decades. This has included the detention and prosecution of community leaders, the misuse of terrorism and other criminal laws to silence dissent and measures that have deprived civil society organisations of financial and other operational resources to carry out their legitimate human rights work. Despite the increasingly hostile environment and the risk of reprisals, those participating in the peaceful protests have continued to courageously exercise their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression.
Front Line Defenders stands in solidarity with students and other peaceful protesters, including human rights defenders, as they continue to campaign peacefully in the face of violence and provocation. The organisation calls on the Indian authorities to respect the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression, ensure accountability for the reported use of excessive force against protesters, conduct prompt, independent and impartial investigations into alleged human rights violations, and ensure that human rights defenders and others exercising their fundamental freedoms can do so without fear of violence, intimidation or criminalisation.
