The civil rights movement in India has emerged as an autonomous voice in defense of civil liberties and democratic rights of our people. The Peoples Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi, is one such organisation. It came into existence in 1977 as the Delhi unit of a larger national forum, PUCLDR, and became PUDR on 1 February, 1981.
Latest Publications
Bhima Koregaon Poster Campaign: State’s Capacity to Create Laws for Targeting and Silencing Dissenters
16 champions of people rights have been implicated in the BK Case since 2018 They include lawyers, journalists, academics, cultural artists, a poet and a priest In 2021 Father Stan Swamy died while in jail Nine are out on bail but face stringent conditions Six...
Insecurity By Law: A Critique of the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill in the Context of India’s Banning Regime
The Maharashtra Assembly has passed the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill (Mh SPSB) 2024, exactly a year after its initial tabling. Projected as a measure to curb the spread of Naxalism in urban areas, the Bill grants sweeping powers to the government to ban...
Factory Fires and Workers: A Capital Story
This report by PUDR, Factory Fires and Workers: A Capital Story, examines the underlying causes of repeated factory fires in Delhi, and seeks to arrive at an understanding about why they are so recurrent. Factory fires are chronic occurrences in Delhi. Particular...
In the wake of Nuh: A report on state repression
On July 22, 2024, the fourth annual Brajmandal Abhishek Yatra passed peacefully through the Nuh district in Haryana. Last year, the same yatra was characterised by violence, followed by state repression that casts a shadow till today. In the wake of Nuh: A report on...
38th Annual Dr. Ramanadham Memorial Lecture 2023: The Proposed Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita and Democratic Rights
Report_38th Annual Dr. Ramanadham Memorial Lecture (October 2023) Every year PUDR organizes Dr. Ramanadham memorial lecture on a specific theme and its impact on democratic rights. The 38th Annual Ramanadham lecture was delivered on 14 October 2023, on The Proposed...
Latest Press Statements
Delhi High Court dismissal of bail of activists protects the State from scrutiny of arbitrary and punitive action
On 2 September 2025, the High Court of Delhi in two separate orders dismissed pleas for bail on behalf of ten persons who stand accused by the Delhi Police of commission of terrorist acts, terror funding and conspiracy to commit terrorist acts in relation to the...
Press Release: PUDR Investigates the issue of the use of Panchayati Land by Dalits in Punjab
A five-member team from the People’s Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi visited five villages in four districts of Punjab to investigate the issue of the use of Panchayati land by landless dalit households and the associated instances of violence and arrests....
Book Ban: State silences Jammu and Kashmir
On 05 August 2025, by order of the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, 25 books were declared to be “forfeited” in terms of Section 98 BNSS, the new criminal procedure code. 5 August marks the 6th anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution...
Stop Harassment of Kashmiri Students
April 29, 2025 PUDR expresses deep concern over the unchecked Islamophobia, the violation of rights during the ongoing crackdown in the region, and the harassment of Kashmiri students across the country following the cold-blooded killings of 26 civilians, primarily...
Books, the new casualty in Kashmir
PUDR expresses strong reservations and condemns the coordinated raids in last week of February on bookstores by the Jammu and Kashmir police in Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir. As per reports in the press about 668 books have been seized. Majority of books seized...
Latest updates
Sujato Bhadra, Vice President,CRPP, Ramanadham memorial Meeting, PUDR, 13 September 2015.
Five years behind bars for five activists
