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.
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Latest Publications
A Long Battle for Justice
Workers of Bellsonica Auto Component India Private Limited at the Industrial Model Township (IMT) Manesar in the National Capital Region of India have been sitting on relay hunger strike outside their factory since 4 May 2023, protesting against the spate of recent...
Probing the Jahangirpuri Communal Incident, Delhi, 2022
Jahangirpuri in northwest Delhi came into the headlines when an outbreak of communal violence took place in the course of a confrontation between some Hindus and Muslims during a Hanuman Jayanti procession on 16 April 2022. Two FIRs (nos. 440 and 441 of 2022,...
Digitization, Science and Criminal Investigation: Concerns for Democratic Rights
Every year PUDR organizes a Dr Ramanadham memorial lecture on a topic of contemporary interest. Last year it was Urban Planning and Democratic Rights. The year before that it was on Judiciary and Democratic Rights. In 2008 the topic of the 22nd Ramanadham memorial...
Poster Campaign: Repeal UAPA! Release the Bhima Koregaon undertrials!
As part of its campaign for the release of activists incarcerated in the Bhima Koregaon case, PUDR has created posters in English and Hindi which portray the draconian features of UAPA along with portraits of the activists. Posters in English Posters in Hindi
पोस्टर अभियान। यूएपीए रद्द करो। भीमा कोरेगांव के विचाराधीन कैदियों को रिहा करो!
Poster campaign. Cancel UAPA. Release the undertrial prisoners of Bhima Koregaon!
Latest Press Statements
Release of Report entitled, Fettering People’s Rights: A Critique of Selected Offences and Punishments in The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
On 20th and 21st December 2023, the Parliament enacted three new laws, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, (BNSS) and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam. These Codes replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC) of 1860, the Code of Criminal...
PUDR welcomes the Bombay High Court order granting regular bail to Gautam Navlakha
PUDR welcomes the Bombay High Court order granting regular bail to Gautam Navlakha, a well-known civil rights activist, author, and journalist, on December 19, 2023. The two-member bench comprising Justices AS Gadkari and Shivkumar Dige ruled that based on a perusal...
Life Imprisonment till Death: A regime of retributive punishments under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita
PUDR welcomes the revision in the definition of ‘Life Imprisonment’ in Clause 4 (b) in Chapter II (“Of Punishments”) in the revised draft of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS II). Contrary to the earlier draft (BNS I) in which “Imprisonment for life” in Chapter II was...
Same offence, Two Laws: The questionable reproduction of the UAPA in Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita
PUDR notes with concern the redrafted section on Terrorist Activities in the revised Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, 2023. While in the earlier draft of the BNS, the offence of a Terrorist Act largely mirrored the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the...
Review Death Penalty Punishments in Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023
People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) raises concern over the increased number of offences punishable by death in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS, 2023). Tabled in the Parliament in August, the BNS is slated to replace the existing Indian Penal Code (IPC, 1860)...