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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Latest Press Statements
Thirteen Months of Kagaar: Securitization and Human Rights in Chhattisgarh
With more than one year of security operations in Chhattisgarh under Operation Kagaar, PUDR condemns the central and state governments’ policy of securitization at the expense of people’s rights and in violation of domestic and international law governing the State’s...
The Layered Reality of the NIA 100% conviction in 2024
On 31 December 2024, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) released a “Year-End Press Release” in which it noted a “record 100% conviction rate for 2024” (https://nia.gov.in/writereaddata/Portal/PressReleaseNew/1874_1_PR31122024.pdf). The press release notes the...
In solidarity with PUCL and other Human Rights Organisations
People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) stands in solidarity with People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and other human rights organizations and joins them in expressing disapproval of the remarks made by a Special NIA Sessions Court, Lucknow. The court made a...
40 years of the 1984 Sikh Massacres: the fight for justice continues
November 1, 2024, marks the 40th year of pan-India massacres in which thousands of Sikhs were brutally maimed and killed. Although the official figure on the number of deaths in Delhi alone was 2733, other estimates placed the total number between 3,000 in Delhi to...
Demand accountability for the death of GN Saibaba
People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) mourns the death of activist, teacher and poet GN Saibaba and condemns the state’s role in contributing to his early demise at the age of 57. Of the ten years since his arrest in May 2014 Saibaba spent over eight years in...
Latest Publications
Behind the high walls
THE NORMALISATION OF RACIST VIOLENCE IN OUR PRISONS IS WORRYING. The June 29 status report filed by the Tihar jail superintendent in the Delhi High Court in response to allegations of “large-scale violence” made by the counsel of an inmate belonging to the Pinjra Tod...
Rescripting north-east Delhi riots – and the question of justice
WHILE POLICE SEEK TO PROJECT A ‘CONSPIRACY’ BEHIND THE RIOTS, ALL FIRS PERTAINING TO THE VIOLENCE MUST BE OPENED TO PUBLIC SCRUTINY. Arshad Alam, Amaan Iqbal, Deepak Kumar, Mohammad Hamza and many others were killed in communal riots that convulsed north-east Delhi in...
Rehearsed Truth: Eight Successive Bans on SIMI by UAPA Tribunals
Rehearsed Truths: Eight Successive Bans on SIMI by UAPA Tribunals examines a special feature of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967—the role of Tribunals in reviewing and confirming bans on ‘unlawful’ organizations. Focusing attention on SIMI’s eight...
BLOODY-SUNDAY 2019: POLICE BRUTALITIES AT JAMIA UNIVERSITY 13-15 DECEMBER 2019
A six-member team of PUDR conducted a four-day fact-finding from 16-19 December 2019 into the incidents of police brutalities at the campus of Jamia Milia Islamia University on 13 and 15 December 2019. The brutalities happened in the context of protests against the...
A COMPROMISED INVESTIGATION: Samjhauta Blast (2007) and Role of the National Investigation Agency (NIA)
In March 2019, the NIA Special Court, Panchkula delivered the verdict in the Samjhauta Blast Case of 2007, which had killed 67 and injured 13 passengers, mostly Pakistani citizens, aboard the Attari Express near Panipat. The Samjhauta blasts were uncovered as part of...
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