CIVICUS Monitor, an online platform has added India into a watch list of countries that have seen a “rapid decline” in civic freedoms.
It has highlighted the drastic measures taken by PM Modi to silence critics of BJP.
India has remained a “repressed” nation in the ‘People Power Under Attack 2021’ report by the CIVICUS Monitor.
Its rating was first downgraded in 2019, “due to a crackdown on human rights activists, attacks on journalists and civil society groups, and assault on civic freedoms in Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir”.
In January, Central Bureau of Investigation conducted raids on Madurai-based human rights watchdog, People’s Watch.
Meanwhile, scores of human rights defenders and activists remain in detention under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and other laws.
Josef Benedict, Civic Space Researcher for the CIVICUS Monitor said, “The office raids and foreign funding bans are part of the government’s strategy to harass and silence their critics.
In Jammu and Kashmir, after the government revoked Article 370 in August 2019, which granted the erstwhile state “special status” under the Constitution of India, hundreds were detained and restrictions were placed on internet access.
Over 600 cases of human rights violations were noted by state’s Human Rights Commission.

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