UN experts flag Delhi police action during youth protests; India rejects criticism

United Nations: More than 20 UN human rights experts have expressed concern over the police response to recent youth-led protests in New Delhi, calling on Indian authorities to ensure accountability for alleged human rights violations.

In remarks made in Geneva on Tuesday, October 20, the experts described the police action as a “repeatedly heavy-handed response” to peaceful demonstrations and sought justice for those reportedly affected.

Their comments came after the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner raised concerns over reports of mass detentions of demonstrators, protest leaders, civil society members, lawyers and journalists before and during large-scale protests in the national capital.

India rejected the criticism, describing the remarks as “unwarranted” and an “unacceptable interference” in its internal affairs.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee on the same day, India said human rights should not be used as a tool for political pressure or to selectively target countries.

Barkha Tamrakar, Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, made the statement during a 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,” she said.

Tamrakar also urged delegations to accurately represent UN reports. “We call on delegations to cite the report faithfully, not to inflate a humanitarian communication into a verdict,” she said.

She said India was willing to clarify specific and properly documented cases through established channels, but opposed any attempt to portray unverified allegations or incomplete statistics as a negative assessment of the country.

“India 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 had also dismissed as “hearsay” a report by a UN human rights expert that referred to a “satirical political movement” created by the country’s youth and alleged that its members faced retaliation. New Delhi asked the expert to verify such claims before making allegations based on unverified information.