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.
Remembering Stan Swamy (26 April 1937 – 5 July 2021)
The state persecuted Stan Swamy under the UAPA, a punishment that precipitated his death as an undertrial in judicial custody. Stan Swamy was framed, fettered, and finally forced towards a fatal illness under due process of law called the UAPA. The charges levelled reveal the state’s deep prejudice against an upright activist who spent decades in building and empowering Adivasi rights against historic neglect and exploitation. Stan Swamy’s persecution under the UAPA offers an understanding of how many others have been similarly punished by the state for their dissenting politics.
Prior to his incarceration, Stan Swamy’s failing health was well-known, but he was not granted even medical bail let alone regular bail. The NIA and the prison authorities refused to acknowledge the deterioration that he suffered in prison, and they failed to uphold his rights as a prisoner, a right to decent health care and facilities.
Read: Framed to Die: The Case of Stan Swamy at Framed_to_
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Why was Greenpeace activist prevented from travelling to London?
PUDR condemns the Union Government for preventing Ms. Priya Pillai of Greenpeace (India) from travelling to London. Greenpeace came under scrutiny because of its support to Mahan Sangharsh Samiti, a grassroots organisation challenging coal mining license for Mahan...
Condemning Undemocratic Extension of AFSPA
PUDR strongly condemns the extension of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 (AFSPA) in Assam, on January 2, 2015 under Section 3 of the Act by the Government of India. Coming in the wake of the recent massacre of adivasis by the National Democratic Front of...
Can Compensation replace Justice?
On 18th December 2014, the Supreme Court directed the Central Government to pay Rs. 10 lakh as compensation to the family of Thangjam Chanu Manorama Devi. PUDR recognizes that this is a small step but cannot be a substitute for actual justice. Reacting to the SC...
One sparrow does not herald a spring.
A rare instance of army convicting its own personnel for war crimes does not mean end of legal immunity enjoyed by the armed forces in what officialdom calls the “disturbed area”. That the government denies presence of armed conflict is of course in marked contrast to...
When T-Shirts become Seditious
he course of democracy in India is witnessing a major turn towardsconstricting the freedom of expression. Peoples Union for Democratic Rights has time and again critiqued the use of draconian laws, of which sedition is a putrid kind, to stifle political dissent...
Latest Publications
Six Parliaments And Democratic Rights
In the last 32 years six parliaments have come and gone, five prime ministers have changed, promises were made and assurances given. But the assault on people’s democratic rights has continued. The ordinary masses of India, toiling day in and day out with no security...
Report Of The PUCL&DR (Delhi) Fact Finding Team On Faridabad Incidents Of 17th October, 1979
On Oct 1979 Haryana Police ran berserk and killed innocent people in Faridabad. and then engaged in concealing and destroying all evidence of their misdeeds. This report is the result of fact finding conducted by PUCL&DR which met victims of firing, talked to...
Repression in Singhbhum
The People's Union for Civil Liberties and Democratic Rights (PUCL) in Delhi was concerned to learn of frequent instances of police firing on adivasis in Chaibasa and oppression of landless labourers in Baharagora areas of Singhbhum in Bihar during the latter half of...
DISSENTING VOICES
Voices of poets from some of the languages in India. This collection is not representative but only a small sample of what is available. This anthology, however feeble, shows that the poetic conscience of India is not silent at the time of crisis. To download the...
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