Dark
Light
Today: Feb 18, 2025

Police Raid Rights Group in Delhi

Escalating Crackdown on Activists Contesting Hate Speech
December 23, 2024

Indian police in Delhi on November 29, 2024 carried out a politically motivated raid on the offices of the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR), according to Human Rights Watch(HRW) news release. 

The action appeared to be part of the government’s crackdown against groups that criticize speech that could provoke violence against Muslims and other minorities.

The police claimed to be acting on a complaint over an exhibition by the group, that documents human rights abuses and incitement to violence against Muslims since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014. 

The police also attempted to detain Nadeem Khan, the group’s national general secretary.

“It’s perhaps unsurprising that Delhi police raided the offices of a group highlighting the BJP-led government’s appalling record of targeting Muslims and other minorities over the last decade,” 

– said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. 

“Instead of revoking harmful policies and prosecuting those responsible, the government appears intent on punishing the messenger.”

The exhibition highlighted politically motivated prosecutions of human rights defenders in India. 

It also documented mob violence by ultranationalist Hindus that has killed many Muslims, and hate speech by senior BJP leaders that has repeatedly incited violence against religious minorities, issues that have been well-documented by domestic and international rights groups.

The Association for Protection of Civil Rights said the Delhi police did not carry any notice or arrest warrant when they traveled to the southern city of Bangalore to arrest Khan, in violation of due process. 

The police said they were investigating Khan and the APCR for allegedly “promoting enmity” between various groups, and for criminal conspiracy. 

The police complaint is based on a video posted on social media of Khan showing the exhibit, discussing specific cases of violence against Muslims and relevant court judgments. 

The video, posted on X by a BJP supporter who called for police action against the exhibit, was posted separately by a BJP minister a day later.

On December 3, the Delhi High Court granted Khan interim protection from arrest for three days and instructed him to cooperate with the police investigation.

The Association for Protection of Civil Rights has provided legal aid in a number of human rights cases across the country. 

These include defending activists wrongfully prosecuted under India’s counterterrorism law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, in a case relating to communal violence in Delhi in February 2020 in which 53 people, mostly Muslims, were killed. 

“APCR is one of the few organizations in the country that is actively engaged in advocating for us and providing every help including legal aid,” an activist said.

The raid on the APCR is not an isolated case, Human Rights Watch said. 

Police in Uttar Pradesh state have accused Mohammed Zubair, cofounder of an independent fact-checking website, Alt News, of promoting enmity between different religious groups, as well as “endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India,” for posting a video of a Hindu religious leader making Islamophobic remarks. 

On December 3, the judges hearing Zubair’s case in Allahabad High Court recused themselves and directed that the case be listed before another bench.