A report released by South African non-profit Civicus has listed India as one of the nations with “repressed” democracies.
The CIVICUS Monitor categories countries into five groups—open, narrowed, obstructed, repressed and closed—depending on the state of human rights and freedom.
Among other things, a "repressed" state indicates that "active individuals and civil society members who criticise power holders risk surveillance, harassment, intimidation, imprisonment, injury and death. People who organise or take part in peaceful protests are likely to be targeted by the authorities through the use of excessive force, including the use of live ammunition, and risk mass arrests and detention."
While "closed" indicates "there is complete closure—in law and in practice—of civic space."
While China, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Egypt and a few other countries have been listed as closed, India, Russia, Pakistan along with several African and Asian nations have been categorised as "repressed".
The report noted, "The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has continued its persecution of human rights defenders, farmers, right to information activists, journalists and other critics."
It also mentioned arrests of human rights activists in the Bhima Koregaon case, arrests of journalists who covered the Tripura communal violence, detention of Kashmiri rights defenders Khurram Parvez and other incidents of human rights violation.
"In November 2020, Father Stan Samy, who was suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, had to fight the National Investigation Agency in court for a straw and sipper cup to drink water. The tribal rights activist died in July 2021, awaiting bail on health grounds. Navlakha too had been denied a pair of new spectacles after his spectacles were stolen in jail," the report said.
The reported also noted the deaths that occurred over the course of the farmer protests, including the Lakhimpur Kheri incident. The farmers' protest has been called off more than a year later on 9 December, after the Centre conceded to their requests of repealing the three contentious farm laws.
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