arbitrarily arrested, often without charge or trial. Despite a Supreme Court ruling to reduce prison overcrowding to curb the spread of COVID-19, the authorities continued to incarcerate many who were critical of the government. The authorities failed to adequately investigate or punish perpetrators of violence based on caste, sex and gender, and carried out reprisals against those who reported rape and caste- based crimes. There was widespread impunity and lack of accountability for murders and attacks carried out by vigilante mobs and police officers against religious minorities. Swift and extreme restrictions were placed on freedom of movement in response to the pandemic, leaving thousands of migrant workers stranded without adequate food and protection. Some restrictions to curb the pandemic also threatened the right to privacy. BACKGROUND In December 2019, the government passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) enabling irregular migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan to obtain Indian citizenship, excluding Muslims. The

discriminatory nature of the CAA sparked peaceful protests across the country, which were met with arbitrary arrests and detention and widespread demonization of those protesting. The government’s strategy to curb COVID-19 included a punitive lockdown at very short notice, lack of transparency in disbursing relief funds, threats to privacy, and demonization of religious minorities. ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND DETENTIONS Republic of India Seven human rights activists – Father Stan Head of state: Ram Nath Kovind Swamy, Jyoti Raghoba Jagtap, Sagar Head of government: Tatyaram Gorkhe, Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichor, Hany Babu, Gautam Navlakha and Freedom of expression was guaranteed Anand Teltumbde, were arrested by the selectively, and dissent was repressed National Investigation Agency (NIA), India’s through unlawful restrictions on peaceful main counter-terrorism agency, for their protests and by silencing critics. Human alleged involvement in violence during the rights defenders, including students, Bhima Koregaon celebrations near the city of academics, journalists and artists, were Pune in 2018. Those arrested worked with

182 Amnesty International Report 2020/21 marginalized groups, including Adivasi (Indigenous) communities, and had criticized FREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION AND government policies. The government ASSEMBLY accused them of breaching the Penal Code New restrictions were imposed on freedoms by “waging war against the country” and of expression and assembly in response to having links with the banned Communist the COVID-19 pandemic. On 24 March, Party of India (Maoist). Prime Minister Modi imposed a nationwide Many arrested activists were elderly and in lockdown, comprising mandatory ‘stay-at- poor health. However, they were held in home’ quarantine under the Disaster overcrowded prisons where several inmates Management Act, a draconian law which had either tested positive or died from gives the government sweeping powers in COVID-19. Varavara Rao, an 80-year-old poet disaster situations. Breaches of the lockdown arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case in resulted in arrests and detentions. 2018, tested positive for COVID-19 in July Even before the pandemic, freedom of while in prison. Nevertheless, the courts assembly was restricted, including by continued to reject the bail pleas of the burdening civilians with recovering the cost of activists. damages to public property after peaceful At least nine students peacefully protesting protests turned violent. against the CAA were arrested and jailed A year after the government revoked the under counter-terrorism and sedition laws. special status of Jammu and Kashmir and Many other anti-CAA protesters were split the state into two union territories, the subjected to intense intimidation and clampdown on civil liberties and restrictions harassment from the police. Meanwhile, the on communications services continued. authorities ignored violence and hate speech Political leaders such as , by the supporters of the CAA against those and Mehbooba Mufti, who protesting draconian counter-terrorism laws, were administratively detained in 2019, were including the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) released in 2020. However, the union Act and National Security Act. Safoora government continued to silence those who Zargar, a research scholar who was three demanded accountability and imposed a months’ pregnant at the time, and Umar harsh media blackout. Khalid, a former student union leader, were At least 18 journalists in Kashmir were among those arrested. Safoora Zargar was physically attacked by police or summoned to later released on bail. police stations. Dissent was further On 26 June, the UN High Commissioner suppressed when a new media policy was for Human Rights called on India to introduced by the Jammu and Kashmir immediately release human rights defenders government to create “a sustained narrative who had been arrested for protesting against on the functioning of the government in the CAA. However, the majority remained in media” by checking “anti-national activities”. detention at the end of the year. On 20 October, the Jammu and Kashmir In December, Uttar Pradesh police government closed the office of the Kashmir arbitrarily arrested 10 Muslim men under a Times, without prior notice, after its editor, law introduced by the Uttar Pradesh Anuradha Bhasin, had challenged the Government that targets consensual interfaith communications blockade in the Supreme marriages, and allegedly tortured them. The Court. The NIA also raided the offices and legislation, which has been termed the “love residences of civil society activists including jihad” law by right-wing nationalists and Khurram Parvez and three of his associates, leading politicians, had not been approved by and Parveena Ahanger, who had reported the Indian Parliament or the state legislature. extensively on human rights abuses in Kashmir. The NIA alleged that the activists had raised funds for “carrying out

Amnesty International Report 2020/21 183 secessionist and separatist activities” in the police indiscriminately used water Jammu and Kashmir. cannons and fired tear gas shells, injuring During the nationwide lockdown imposed protesters. after the COVID-19 outbreak, more than 50 journalists were arrested or charged under UNFAIR TRIALS emergency laws for spreading The courts, particularly the Supreme Court, “misinformation” or “fake news”. On 7 April, failed to monitor the government’s response Uttar Pradesh police lodged a First to the COVID-19 crisis in a timely manner. Information Report (FIR) against journalist On 13 March, even before the national Prashant Kanojia for allegedly making lockdown was imposed, the Supreme Court “objectionable remarks” about Prime declared that the courts – for public health Minister Modi and Chief Minister Yogi reasons – would function at reduced Adityanath on social media. Shortly capacity. Between 23 March and 4 July, the afterwards, the Uttar Pradesh police Supreme Court only took up cases of registered another FIR against , a “extreme urgency”, barring physical hearings daily news website, and its editor Siddharth and relying on video conferencing facilities. Varadarajan for reporting that No qualifying criteria or definitions were had attended a public religious event after laid down for cases of “extreme urgency”, the nationwide lockdown was announced. leaving judges with wide discretion, resulting On 28 September the government in many significant cases involving grave amended the Foreign Contribution human rights violations either not being (Regulation) Act (FCRA), banning large heard or being seriously delayed. On 3 April, NGOs from passing to grassroots NGOs funds the Bombay High Court, while hearing a bail received from foreign donors. The new application, maintained that the meaning of amendments also required all FCRA- the term “urgent” was subjective and did not, registered non-profit organizations to limit for example, apply to those seeking bail while their administrative expenses to 20% of awaiting the outcome of their trial. donations (from the earlier 50%). This The Supreme Court routinely undermined amendment was likely to force NGOs to its own impartiality and independence. In reduce staff, potentially reducing human August it convicted Prashant Bhushan, a rights work. lawyer and human rights defender, under the On 30 September, Amnesty International outdated provisions of criminal contempt India was forced to halt its operations after laws. Prashant Bhushan had criticized on the government froze its bank accounts Twitter the court’s functioning since 2014. without notice. The organization was forced to lay off all its staff and pause all its UNLAWFUL ATTACKS AND KILLINGS campaign and research work. This occurred In February, communal violence broke out in shortly after Amnesty International India had the capital, . According to published briefings demanding accountability government data, 53 people – mostly for grave human rights violations carried out Muslims – died in the riots, and more than by the Delhi police and the government 500 were injured. during the Delhi riots and in the Jammu and In the build-up to the Legislative Assembly Kashmir region. elections in Delhi, held on 8 February, several More than 160 farmers died after three political leaders made hate speeches against laws on farming were passed by Parliament the anti-CAA protesters. On 27 January, in August with minimal consultation. The referring to the protesters at Shaheen Bagh, causes of death included suicides, as well as the Delhi epicentre of peaceful sits-ins heart attacks and road accidents during against the CAA, the Union Minister of State protests. In November, as the farmers for Finance, Anurag Thakur, encouraged the marched towards Delhi to protest the laws, crowd to chant “shoot the traitors of the

184 Amnesty International Report 2020/21 nation”. On 28 January, Parvesh Verma, breaching the lockdown guidelines. On 18 member of parliament for the ruling April in Uttar Pradesh, a Muslim man, (BJP) claimed that the Mohammed Rizwan, died in hospital two protesters from Shaheen Bagh would enter days after being beaten by police with batons citizens’ homes and “rape your sisters and when he went out to buy essential supplies. daughters and kill them”. In another speech On 19 June, low-income workers P. Jayaraj on the same day, he promised to “not leave and his son J. Bennicks were picked up for even one of [the mosques] standing” after questioning by the Thoothukudi police in the BJP’s election win in Delhi. Tamil Nadu for keeping their small shop open These speeches were followed by violence during lockdown. The two men were allegedly on university campuses against those tortured to death in police custody. protesting against the CAA. Hate speeches by political leaders continued after the Delhi IMPUNITY elections, followed by widespread violence in The police continued to carry out unlawful the North East district of Delhi. killings – some amounting to extrajudicial On 23 February, BJP leader Kapil Mishra executions – with impunity. In July in called on Twitter for people to rally against a Kashimr, three young labourers in an apple women-led protest in Jaffrabad in North East orchard were unlawfully killed by members of district of Delhi, urging people to “prevent the Indian army. The Armed Forces (Special another Shaheen Bagh”. At the rally, he Powers) Act, which governs the use of force warned the police of dire consequences if the by security personnel in Kashmir, grants protesters did not vacate the site. Communal virtual immunity to members of the security violence erupted shortly after his speech. forces from prosecution for alleged human rights violations. In another extrajudicial EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE execution in July, Vikas Dubey was allegedly The police used unlawful force and killed while being escorted to the city of committed various other human rights Kanpur after his arrest by Uttar Pradesh violations, abusing laws to intimidate people police. Four of his associates were also killed and silence dissent on behalf of the union unlawfully by the Uttar Pradesh police. Uttar government. Pradesh police had earlier claimed in a During the February communal violence in tweet that since 2017 it had killed 103 Delhi, members of the Delhi police pelted “criminals” and injured 1,859 others in stones alongside rioters, tortured people in 5,178 “police engagements” – a common custody, dismantled sites of peaceful protest euphemism used by state actors for alleged and stood by as rioters attacked peaceful extrajudicial executions. protesters and destroyed public and private Hate crimes including violence against property. No independent investigation was Dalits, Adivasi (Indigenous) communities and launched into these acts. religious minorities were also committed with As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, the impunity. In September, a Dalit woman was discriminatory enforcement of the lockdown allegedly raped and murdered by a group of restrictions by the police heightened human dominant-caste men in Hathras district in rights concerns. The majority of those Uttar Pradesh, and cremated by the Uttar arrested for violating the lockdown guidelines Pradesh police without her family's consent. belonged to marginalized communities such The accused men were arrested only after as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, De- nationwide protests. Later, several FIRs were notified Tribes, Muslims or low-income registered by the Uttar Pradesh police against workers. In March, migrant workers who were protesters for criminal conspiracy and travelling back home were forced by the Uttar sedition. Pradesh police to crawl on the road carrying their belongings, as punishment for

Amnesty International Report 2020/21 185 including a four-year-old child who died of RIGHT TO HEALTH AND LIVELIHOOD hunger. The handling of the COVID-19 pandemic During the lockdown, workers in the exposed weaknesses in the public health informal sector – who constitute more than care system. It also resulted in unsafe and three-quarters of India’s workforce – faced poor working conditions for those who lack enormous difficulties due to rampant job adequate social and economic protection, losses. However, many states suspended the such as community health care workers and legal protections otherwise afforded to religious minorities. workers, such as regulation of working hours, The government accused members of the the right to form trade unions, and safe Muslim Tablighi Jamaat minority of spreading working conditions. COVID-19, and as a result, health care The COVID-19 lockdown resulted in an facilities denied access to Muslims. Instances increase in violence against women, of hospitals refusing Muslim pregnant women particularly domestic violence. Pregnant and cancer patients surfaced in April 2020. women and girls faced further barriers In the months following the nationwide accessing health care, and there was an lockdown of March, social media and increased risk of maternal mortality and WhatsApp groups were flooded with calls morbidity. for social and economic boycotts of Muslims, alongside fake news stories and other RIGHT TO PRIVACY misinformation. In April, the government launched the mobile The COVID-19 pandemic overburdened app Aarogya Setu, purportedly to speed up the public health care system, but little contact tracing and ensure timely access to protection was provided to front-line health essential health services and public health workers in terms of safety equipment and information. No information was provided on social security such as medical and life which government bodies would have access insurance. These included people working in to the data collected through the app. the community, such as Accredited Social Aarogya Setu’s code was not open to the Health Activist workers and sanitation public, in violation of the government’s own workers. policy. Although the Ministry of Electronics The Supreme Court delayed a hearing in a and Information Technology maintained that public interest case urgently seeking downloading the app was not mandatory, transport, food and shelter for migrant many government departments and private workers who were left stranded for over a companies, including the Airport Authority of month by the sudden imposition of the India, made it mandatory for their staff to lockdown. On 7 April, as many migrant install it. workers were walking to their distant homes in the absence of government-sponsored or public transport, India’s Chief Justice, S.A. Bobde, stated while hearing the petition that the Supreme Court “did not want to interfere with the government decisions for the next 10-15 days”. At least 200 migrant workers were killed in road accidents while walking long distances home in other districts or states during the lockdown. In May, after intense public pressure, the government began running special trains for stranded migrant workers. However, many died from a lack of food and water on these trains,

186 Amnesty International Report 2020/21