UN experts decry Delhi Police action on protests; India responds

Remarks came amid concerns raised by UN human rights experts over the recent youth-led protests in New Delhi.

United Nations: More than 20 United Nations human rights experts have expressed alarm over what they described as a “repeatedly heavy-handed police response” to peaceful youth-led demonstrations in New Delhi, and called on the authorities to ensure justice for reported human rights violations during the protests.

The experts made the remarks in Geneva on Tuesday, October 20.

The UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner had earlier voiced concern over “reports of mass detentions of demonstrators, protest leaders, members of civil society organisations, lawyers and journalists” before and during large-scale demonstrations in the national capital. India described those remarks as “unwarranted” and an “unacceptable interference” in its internal affairs.

India’s response at the General Assembly

On the same day, India told the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee that human rights should not be used as an instrument of political pressure or selective targeting of countries. Barkha Tamrakar, Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, delivered India’s statement during the discussion on the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances.

“India engages with international human rights mechanisms, but such engagement must be based on dialogue, consultation, cooperation with non-selectivity and transparency as guiding principles,” Tamrakar said.

She also asked delegations to cite the report faithfully. “We call on delegations to cite the report faithfully, not to inflate a humanitarian communication into a verdict,” she said.

India remains prepared to clarify specific, properly documented cases through established channels, Tamrakar said. However, it formally opposes any “attempt to convert unverified allegations, incomplete statistics or a report that contains no India country observation into a negative characterisation of the world’s largest democracy,” she said.

Last week, India also dismissed as “hearsay” a report by a UN human rights expert that took note of a “satirical political movement” created by the country’s youth and alleged that its members faced retaliation. New Delhi urged the expert to “verify” claims before vilifying issues based on unverified allegations.