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Citizens Against Hate (CAH) is a Delhi-based collective of individuals and groups committed to a democratic, secular and caring India. It is an open collective, with members drawn from a wide range of backgrounds who are concerned about the growing hold of exclusionary tendencies in society, and the weakening of rule of law and justice institutions. CAH was formed in 2017, in response to the rising trend of hate mobilisation and crimes, specifically the surge in cases of lynching and vigilante violence, to document violations, provide victim support and engage with institutions for improved justice and policy reforms. From 2018, CAH has also been working with those affected by NRC process in Assam, documenting exclusions, building local networks, and providing practical help to victims in making claims to rights. Throughout, we have also worked on other forms of violations – hate speech, sexual violence and state violence, among others in Bihar, Haryana, Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh. Our approach to addressing the justice challenge facing particularly vulnerable communities is through research, outreach and advocacy; and to provide practical help to survivors in their struggles, also nurturing them to become agents of change. This anthology is the product of year-long research and documentation work of the CAH team made up of human rights experts, lawyers and researchers. Members of the team and volunteers included (in alphabetical order) Abdul Batin Khandekar, Aliya, Abhimanyu Suresh, Adeela Firdous, Anupriya Shome, Essar Batool, Farhad Ali Ahmad, Ghazala Jamil, Khursheed, Mangla Verma, Misbah Reshi, Mudabbir Hassan, Sabira Bashir, Sajjad Hassan, Seema Nair, Shahjahan Ali Ahmad and Umair Gul. Mathew Jacob, Mushtaq Malla and Sharib Ali provided able guidance. This report is the property of Citizens Against Hate. Those wishing to use its contents for non-commercial purposes, may do so freely. We’ll appreciate a word of acknowledgement. 1st March 2020 Citizens Against Hate, New Delhi http://citizensagainsthate.org/ Table of contents 1.Introduction: Chronicling the Undermining of the Secular Republic .....................................1 Hate Speech and Targeted Violence Hate Pays: The ease of targeting minorities in India July 2019 ................................................................................................................................................................................. 7 Hate in the Air: Social media fuelling hate crime against minorities,August 2019 ......19 Organised ‘Communal Violence’: Report of fact-finding Investigation into Ram Navami violence in Bihar April 2018 ............................................................................................................................................................................ 33 National Register of Citizens in Assam The Risk of Mass Discriminatory Deprivation of Nationality caused by Updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam September 2019 ...............................................................................................................................................................51 Assam’s unending search to exclude minorities: The Aftermath of NRC November 2019 ...............................................................................................................................................................61 Denying freedoms in Kashmir Exacting Revenge: Incarcerating Children in Kashmir December 2019 ................................................................................................................................................................71 Maiming to Silence: The use of Pellet Guns Against Protesters in Kashmir September 2019 ..............................................................................................................................................................87 210 days of Shutdown: ‘A desolation called peace’ Reset, February 2020 ....................99 Disenfranchising Citizens The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019: Dismantling India,Imperilling South Asia, December 2019 ...........................................................................................................................................................103 Using an iron fist to Silence: Excessive force against anti-CAA 2019 protesters in UP, December 2019 ...............................................................................................................................................................115 Compromising Institutions Justice too Far: Targeted violence and the working of criminal justice system, January 2020 ...................................................................................................................................................................125 Courts amid Majoritarian Upsurge: Protector of Citizens’ rights? February 2020 ..................................................................................................................................................................141 Introduction:Chronicling the Undermining of the Secular Republic 1. Introduction:Chronicling the Undermining of the Secular Republic Among various experiments to create democracy in decolonised countries, Indian democracy was considered something of a marvel. Indian experience of democracy was judged substantially successful and the international image that India developed over 5 to 6 decades was that of a modern, democratic state with stable legislature, independent judiciary, and mostly efficient executive. A multi-party system that accommodated representation of numerous sections in a vastly diverse country ensured social engineering through policy and elections. It would perhaps be fair to say that events where civil liberties and human rights of Indian citizens were infringed, were seen as exceptions which the system could deal with. The chapters in this volume – an anthology of briefing papers published by Citizens Against Hate over the past year - attempt to capture how this idea of India is under grave stress due to the momentum gained by cultural transformation project of Hindutva (political Hindu nationalism). Lately, events and happenings that in the past would have been characterised as exceptional, have been occurring with alarming frequency. These go to undermine the secular foundations of the Indian republic and the rights of its citizens, causing a rupture in the democratisation project. Each of the chapters to follow examines in detail, the socio-legal and juridico-political manifestations of the majoritarian project, contributing to this stress. The anthology is a plea that if India is to remain a truly democratic state the prolonged periods and amplified frequency of ‘state of exception’ created by the various arms of Indian state has to be challenged. Since after coming to power for a second term in May 2019 with a ‘brute majority’, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to be a party in a hurry. In less than a year it has precipitated a slew of events in the country which involved legislative measures that were aimed at gesturing to Muslim minorities a will to brutally subjugate. First was a law outlawing a form of divorce1 which also criminalised Muslim men who attempted to pronounce divorce thus. Next was the abrogation of Article 370 of the constitution, taking away the autonomy of the only Muslim majority state in the country.2 Subsequently, in December 2019 an amendment in 1 Unilateral divorce by a Muslim man uttering the word ‘talaq’ three times in one sitting. In the law while the utterance was deemed void and not having affected the divorce in the new law, it was still 2 Comparable autonomy remained in place for several other states in the country through Articles 371 A-J 1 Majoritarian Consolidation: Chronicling the Undermining of the Secular Republic the Citizenship Act was passed which opened a pathway for a category3 of illegal immigrants, leaving out Muslims. Not stopping at this, BJP leaders also claimed credit that the final judgement of the long-standing dispute to a claim to the site of a demolished mosque in the city of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh had been settled in favour of parties that had demolished the Babri Mosque.4 Amidst this relentless attack on the secular fabric of the nation and its principal religious minority, the importance of the role of political opposition is being felt in India only through its depletion. While the weakness of the parliamentary opposition is a numerical reality, the fact of the weakening of political opposition also outside the parliament cannot be denied. The framing of this anthology is to serve as an index of discrimination and censorship that are creating a context of diminution of rights of the citizens. Reading through the various sections we can read the intensification of ‘rightlessness’ by putting in place the legal apparatus of impunity through the use of technology. Alongside a tendency to ‘rule by circulars’ materialises executive power outside the framework of constitutional law. Together these actions are designed to change the very relationship between society and law. The first section of the compendium deals with hate speech and targeted violence. While the BJP, along with its affiliated groups, has never been averse to violence, in its second term the government appears to have developed a bolder stance to violence. It no longer needs to mobilise it through proxy issues like cow slaughter. From the senior-most ministers, all

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