Long before the current anxieties around Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercises emerged, CJP had already been deeply involved in questions surrounding identity documentation, citizenship verification and exclusionary administrative processes. Our first intensive and continuing interventions are in the north-eastern state of Assam, where a peculiar blend of exclusivist xenophobic politics shaped policy and actions that have together targeted legitimate Indians in the quagmire of having ‘to establish documented citizenship.’ Read about CJP’d continuing journey through 2025 here.

Subsequently, two years down the line, 2019-2020, during the months and years of fear generated by the CAA-NRC debates, CJP organised extensive documentation and awareness campaigns across several states, helping communities understand legal processes, preserve records, obtain missing documents and resist panic-driven misinformation. The organisation’s interventions consistently focused on ensuring that vulnerable populations—especially minorities, migrants, women, Adivasis, Denotified Tribes (DNTs), informal workers and economically marginalised groups—were not pushed outside the constitutional framework through procedural barriers.

Detailed reports may be read here, here, here and here.

It is from this history of engagement that CJP, together with Vote for Democracy (VFD), began conducting a series of detailed SIR awareness and training sessions in Maharashtra. In 2025, with the elections to the Bihar State Assembly, the State’s most recent efforts to push large sections of Indians to potential disenfranchisement by exacting an unrealistic ‘citizenship test’ began. The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise that subsequently travelled to Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh has defied statutory law (Representation of People’s Act, 1951), Constitutional precedents (Article 14, 15 and 21) and the basic principles of due process and natural justice.

Tragically, this SIR exercise has been preceded by the most significant erosion of autonomy and integrity of a constitutional body like the Election Commission of India (ECI), casting a cloud on the very integrity of the election process under Articles 324-326 of the Indian Constitution. Vote for Democracy (VFD), a citizens’ platform guided by experts has analysed and exposed this deterioration of fair and free elections from the parliamentary elections of April-June 2024. VFD’s reports may be read here, here, here and here.

These trainings were never intended to legitimise or endorse a hurried and deeply problematic SIR exercise. In fact, the position adopted by CJP and VFD has remained unequivocal: the current SIR model, as implemented across multiple states, raises profound constitutional concerns because of the manner in which it transfers the burden of proof onto ordinary citizens while creating conditions ripe for exclusion and disenfranchisement. The purpose of the trainings, therefore, was not compliance for its own sake. It was protection.

As the CJP-VFD booklet on SIR itself clearly states, the trainings are meant “strictly to arm you with the tools to defend your rights and navigate this unconstitutional hurdle, not to legitimise it.”

The booklet may be read here and here.

At a time when fear, misinformation and confusion were spreading rapidly among communities, the trainings sought to communicate one essential message: panic helps exclusionary systems thrive. Knowledge, preparation and collective solidarity followed by determined interventions and action, are what protect democratic rights.

The Maharashtra trainings

Over the course of several months, CJP conducted three major SIR-focused training and awareness programmes in Maharashtra:

• March 21: Training session with Bombay Catholic Sabha
• April 16: Joint awareness and training session with a Community-Based Organisation (CBO), Agripada, South Mumbai
• April 30: Community training programme with Jan Haqq Sangharsh Samiti

These were not routine seminars or technical workshops. They became spaces where fear, uncertainty and lived experiences surfaced openly.

Participants included community organisers, women’s groups, migrant workers, social activists, minority organisations, students, religious leaders, local volunteers, housing rights advocates, DNT representatives, trade union workers, and ordinary residents increasingly worried about how SIR-style exercises could impact their ability to remain on electoral rolls.

Across all three programmes, a striking reality emerged repeatedly: for many people, the fear was not abstract. It was deeply personal. The idea that decades-old documents could suddenly determine one’s legitimacy as a voter –and thereafter a citizen– triggered anxieties rooted in poverty, displacement, migration, illiteracy, gender discrimination and bureaucratic neglect accumulated over generations.

In fact, for a joint delegation meeting with the CEO of Maharashtra, Chokkalingam in early March 2026, of which CJP was a crucial part, was revelatory. The officer unambiguously stated that the 2003 Guidelines would not be followed but also admitted that ‘no fresh guidelines had yet been issued’ by the ECI, Delhi. Emphasising that the current exercise would be one in determining that ‘only Indians’ figure on the electoral roll, Chokkalingam explained the amendments made to Section 3 of the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955 that distinguished between a) those born before 1987, b) those between 1987 (July 1) and 2004 and those c) those born after that date in terms of what sorts of documentary proof were required to ‘establish’ Indian citizenship. For a) simply being born in India was proof enough, for b) in addition to his/her own birth in India, it was required to establish that at least one of the parents was Indian; and for c) it was important to establish that neither mother nor father was an ‘illegal immigrant.’

The Bihar and West Bengal Experience: Why these trainings became necessary

The Maharashtra sessions were built directly upon the extensive field experiences documented by CJP and VFD teams in states where SIR-related exercises had already generated serious problems. These include Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Assam has, meanwhile only so far had a Special Revision (SR) of its rolls, not an SIR.

Ground reports from Bihar and West Bengal revealed patterns of confusion, mass anxiety, arbitrary notices, technological mismatches, documentation hurdles and administrative opacity. These findings eventually culminated in the publication of the detailed handbook Inside the Special Intensive Revision (SIR): Deadly Deadlines, Mechanical Disenfranchisement, and the Ground Reality of Claims and Objections Period & SIR Notices/Hearings.

The booklet combined investigative analysis, field documentation, legal guidance and practical training material. It explained the structure of the SIR process, the roles of electoral officers, the significance of legacy electoral rolls, the functioning of notices and hearings, appeal mechanisms, acceptable documents, and the methods through which exclusion was being operationalised on the ground.

Most importantly, it documented how the current SIR framework represented a dramatic departure from earlier electoral revision exercises.

The 2003 SIR process, for example, had been conducted over nearly six months, relied on existing electoral rolls and EPIC cards as foundational documents, and emphasised facilitative house-to-house verification. Enumerators were not expected to function as citizenship adjudicators. This time round, 2025-2026, with the ECI acting like the weaponised (read unconstitutional) arm of an exclusivist regime, hurried and arbitrary adjudications on citizenship have become the order of the day.

The present model, therefore, has increasingly transformed electoral verification into an exercise marked by compressed timelines, mechanical scrutiny, opaque software systems, and retrospective documentary burdens. CJP and VFD’s field reports documented how software-driven mismatches involving spelling variations, transliteration differences, age-gap calculations and data-entry inconsistencies generated large numbers of “unmatched” or “suspicious” entries.

The Maharashtra trainings therefore emerged not from speculation, but from documented experiences already unfolding elsewhere.

What happens when the poor are asked to prove their existence?

A significant portion of the Maharashtra trainings conducted by CJP focused on helping participants understand the broad range of documents that may potentially be relied upon during SIR-related verification processes. Methods of accessing documents that may exist and be available with local authorities, understanding and tracking legacy and linkages to those voters/citizens who are available and verifiable in the baseline document –the electoral role between 2002-2004—were also granularly shared. CJP’s experiences pan-India across states and regions, intervening on multiple fronts has created a rich knowledge base of accessing documents from levels of the bureaucracy and this is being widely shared. The trainings repeatedly stressed an important point: people often panic because they assume that the absence of one “perfect” document automatically disqualifies them. However, the indicative list itself demonstrates that identity and eligibility can be established through multiple forms of documentary evidence.

Participants were carefully guided through the list of acceptable or supporting documents referenced in the handbook and subsequent judicial interventions. These include: identity cards or pension payment orders issued to government employees or pensioners; identity cards or certificates issued by government authorities, banks, post offices, LIC or PSUs prior to July 1, 1987; birth certificates; passports; matriculation or educational certificates; permanent residence certificates; forest rights certificates; OBC, SC or ST caste certificates; NRC records where available; family registers prepared by state or local authorities; land or house allotment certificates; Aadhaar cards; and Class 10 admit cards or pass certificates.

Throughout the trainings, facilitators repeatedly emphasised that even one among these documents, when supported with supplementary records and consistent identity details, could help establish a person’s identity and continued existence within the social and administrative framework of the country. The sessions therefore focused heavily on practical strategies: how to organise documents chronologically, how to retrieve old records, how to preserve photocopies and acknowledgements, and how to identify alternative supporting papers where primary documents were unavailable.

Yet, as the discussions during the trainings revealed, the ground reality surrounding documentation is far more complicated than official lists often assume. For large sections of the population, documents are not simply lying safely preserved in family cupboards waiting to be produced before authorities. Instead, documentation histories are fragmented by poverty, migration, environmental disasters, displacement, gender discrimination and bureaucratic neglect accumulated over decades. Many participants explained that births in their communities took place at home and were never formally registered. Others spoke of losing papers during drought-induced migration, floods, demolitions, fires or repeated changes in residence. Several older participants described how schools they attended no longer exist, making retrieval of school leaving certificates or mark sheets almost impossible today.

Women repeatedly raised concerns about documentary inconsistencies arising from early (pre 18 or 21 years) marriage-related surname changes, spelling variations and shifts in residence. Some women who were married young explained that they had voted for the first time from their husband’s homes, bypassing any formal electoral linkage with their natal families. This now makes tracing documentary continuity with parental records extremely difficult though not impossible.

Similarly, members of Denotified and Nomadic Tribes (DNTs), migrant workers and daily wage earners pointed out that even obtaining caste certificates, residence proofs or duplicate records often requires multiple visits to government offices—something many cannot afford without losing crucial daily income. For homeless persons, tenants, informal workers and highly mobile populations, stable address-based documentation itself becomes a challenge.

The trainings therefore highlighted a critical contradiction at the heart of documentation-heavy verification exercises: while the State increasingly demands layered documentary proof, millions of people have historically lived at the margins of formal documentation systems themselves. In this context, the sessions sought not only to explain which documents may help, but also to collectively confront the deeper structural inequalities that determine who is able to preserve paperwork, who is visible within administrative systems, and who remains vulnerable to exclusion.

Documents Decide Everything: The fear communities brought into the trainings

One of the most powerful aspects of the Maharashtra sessions was the extent to which people spoke openly about the fragility of their documentary histories. Again and again, participants raised concerns that exposed the enormous disconnect between bureaucratic expectations and lived realities.

The missing birth certificate problem: Perhaps the most recurring concern involved birth certificates.

Large sections of older generations, particularly from rural, working-class and poor communities, were born at home and never formally registered with civil authorities. Institutional births were inaccessible, expensive or culturally uncommon for decades. Women participants repeatedly spoke about how neither they nor their siblings had any birth records because births took place with the assistance of local midwives rather than within hospitals.

The statistics themselves reveal why this remains such a massive issue. Birth registration in India became widespread only relatively recently. Even official data shows significant historical gaps in registration coverage.

For many participants, the sudden expectation that decades-old birth records must now exist produced profound anxiety.

Maharashtra’s histories of drought, migration and loss: Participants also described how environmental and economic crises had repeatedly destroyed family records.

Several communities had lived through devastating droughts across parts of Maharashtra, forcing migration, distress movement and repeated displacement. Others recalled losing documents during floods, cyclones, fires or long-term housing instability. Some participants referred to records lost during the tsunami years or during forced relocations connected to urban redevelopment and informal settlement demolitions. For poor families surviving through cycles of migration and precarious labour, preserving fragile paper records over decades was often impossible.

Yet the current SIR-style expectations assume stable homes, continuous paperwork, formal institutional access and uninterrupted documentation histories.

When the school itself no longer exists: Another major issue that surfaced repeatedly was the problem of accessing school records. Many older government schools, village schools and informal educational institutions no longer exist in their original form. Buildings were demolished, records disappeared, administrations changed, or archives were never digitised.

Several participants explained that even when they knew they had once studied in a particular school, obtaining school leaving certificates or mark sheets today had become practically impossible because the institution itself had shut down or records were destroyed years ago.

For individuals from poor families who studied intermittently or dropped out early to begin work, educational documentation is often fragmentary or inaccessible. Yet these very records are increasingly treated as crucial identity markers.

The invisible burden on Denotified tribes and marginalised communities: The trainings also foregrounded concerns specific to Denotified and Nomadic Tribes (DNTs), whose histories of exclusion from stable settlement patterns, education systems and formal state recognition continue to shape their present vulnerabilities.

Participants pointed out that many DNT communities remain structurally under-documented because generations lived outside formal administrative frameworks. Accessing caste certificates, residence records or historical proofs often requires repeated interactions with distant bureaucratic offices.

For daily wage earners, every visit to a government office means losing a day’s income. The trainings repeatedly emphasised that documentation burdens are never socially neutral. They fall most heavily on those already living precariously.

Women and documentary disruption: Women’s experiences emerged as one of the most significant dimensions of the discussions. Across communities and religions, women described how marriage routinely disrupted documentary continuity. Changes in surname after marriage frequently resulted in inconsistencies across different identity documents.

Many older women explained that they had married before turning 18 and had voted for the first time from their husband’s residence rather than from their natal home. This makes establishing documentary linkage with parental records extraordinarily difficult decades later.

Minor spelling variations across ration cards, Aadhaar cards, voter IDs, educational certificates and marriage-related records further complicate verification. The Maharashtra trainings paid particular attention to these gendered documentary realities because women are often expected to “prove” continuity across names, addresses and households shaped by patriarchal social structures.

Electoral revision cannot become citizenship surveillance

Throughout the sessions, CJP and VFD repeatedly stressed a crucial constitutional principle: electoral revision cannot be converted into a mechanism of suspicion against already-enfranchised citizens.

The handbook itself notes that the present SIR framework reverses long-standing democratic presumptions by effectively treating registered voters as suspect unless they can repeatedly prove their eligibility through documentary evidence.

This is particularly alarming because millions of people currently on electoral rolls have already voted in multiple elections over decades.

The trainings therefore focused heavily on rights awareness:

• understanding notices,
• organising documents,
• preserving acknowledgements,
• seeking written orders,
• attending hearings with support persons,
• filing appeals,
• resisting arbitrary deletions,
• and documenting procedural violations.

Participants were also trained on how to search older electoral rolls, including the 2002–2004 rolls increasingly treated as “legacy data” within SIR processes. The sessions explained the functioning of Booth Level Officers (BLOs), Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), appeal processes, and the importance of procedural safeguards.

Rights groups and CBO’s were trained on and encouraged to, by the CJP team, to organise collectively and voice concerns with the offices of the state election commission so that specific concerns and anxieties of the varieties of stake holders—genuine voters, be they migrants from other states, women, minorities, DNTs, displaced persons—could be readily addressed by an otherwise opaque SEC.

CJP’s memorandum to the Maharashtra CEO

Parallel to these trainings, CJP and VFD formally approached the Maharashtra State Election Commission and the Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra with a detailed memorandum raising concerns about possible disenfranchisement and procedural opacity.

The memorandum urged authorities to ensure:

• accessible and searchable electoral rolls,
• properly trained personnel,
• multilingual assistance systems,
• protection against algorithmic exclusion,
• public transparency,
• a publicised social audit of the draft revised polls and the final ones (this has been mentioned as a mandatory and healthy requirement in the ECI’s own 2023 Handbook of Guidelines on Electoral Rolls;
• and safeguards against arbitrary deletions.

Importantly, the memorandum emphasised that electoral revision must reduce fear rather than produce it. It warned that when documentation burdens are imposed without adequate support structures, the people who suffer first are always those already pushed to the margins: minorities, migrants, tenants, women, informal workers, DNTs and economically vulnerable populations.

Beyond Documentation: Building collective confidence

What distinguished these Maharashtra trainings was that they did not treat documentation as merely technical paperwork. They recognised documentation as deeply tied to dignity, memory, class, caste, migration, gender and survival.

For many participants, the sessions became spaces where people realised they were not individually “failing” because documents were missing or inconsistent. Rather, their experiences reflected structural realities shared by millions across India.

The trainings therefore consistently emphasised solidarity and collective defence:

• helping elderly persons retrieve records,
• assisting women facing name mismatches,
• supporting migrant workers unable to attend hearings,
• guiding daily wage earners through documentation processes,
• and ensuring that vulnerable communities do not face bureaucratic intimidation alone.

At a time when administrative processes increasingly risk producing fear and invisibility, these sessions attempted to restore confidence in constitutional rights and democratic participation.

A democratic intervention against fear

Ultimately, the SIR trainings conducted by CJP across Maharashtra were not merely legal awareness programmes. They were democratic interventions against fear.

They sought to remind people that the right to vote is not a favour granted conditionally by shifting bureaucratic systems. It is a constitutional guarantee rooted in the promise of universal adult franchise. They also sought to expose a harsh reality: when democratic participation becomes dependent upon perfect documentation histories stretching across decades, exclusion ceases to be accidental. It becomes structural.

For precisely this reason, the trainings insisted that preparation—not panic—must guide public response. Because behind every “missing document,” “mismatched name,” or “unavailable legacy record” is not simply a paperwork problem, but a human history shaped by poverty, migration, patriarchy, displacement, disaster and institutional neglect.

And it is these histories that CJP’s Maharashtra trainings sought to bring into the centre of the conversation—so that democracy is not reduced to an exercise in mechanical verification, but remains anchored in constitutional inclusion, human dignity and collective rights.

Related:

Inside the SIR: A voter roll exercise turning into a test of survival

Demystifying the SIR Notice: A systemic hurdle, not a final verdict

CJP Assam: A journey without parallel, evolving & expanding rights jurisprudence

The post Documents Cannot Decide Democracy: How CJP is training communities to navigate the SIR process appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Chief Minster (CM), Himanta Biswa Sarma made the announcement while addressing the media after the first Cabinet meeting in his second term holding the post. Sarma took oath as Chief Minister for the second consecutive term on May 12, 2026. Results of the elections came in on May 4.

At his press meet Himanta Said the decision was taken to present the UCC in the House on the last day of the present session of the Assam Assembly on May 26. The Assam Cabinet approved the draft UCC on the May 13 and he said that we will present the UCC in the House on the last day of the first Assembly session as soon as the members take oath.

Explaining the intended law, he said the UCC will exclude tribal booth Hills and plains people from the scope of the UCC and clarified that said the UCC will not affect any religious customs. Specifically, the proposed UCC will focus on a total of four issues,” he added, “These include the minimum age of marriage, Polygamy, the rights of women in property and live in relationships.”

He added that if someone asks whether the UCC requires worship or prayers, how to hold a Chaklong wedding, etc., there should be no such questions, which is why the UCC is not concerned with religious observances or religious traditions. “The government has no say in how worship has to be done or prayers have to be offered.

He may be heard https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1891XEALmG/

A special session of the Assam Assembly is scheduled to be held from May 21–26, 2026. Newly elected MLAs will take oath during the session. The proposed bill that was approved in the Cabinet Minister’s meeting on May 12 will be tabled on May 26, the concluding day of the session.

According to the brief by Sarma, the proposed legislation aims to address:

i) Legal age of marriage

ii) Polygamy

iii) Inheritance rights

iv) Live-in relationships

v) Compulsory registration of marriage and divorce

With this move, Assam will become the third state after Uttarakhand and Gujarat to table a UCC Bill. All three are states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

It is noteworthy—and can certainly be asserted—that this decision, taken during the very first cabinet meeting of the BJP’s third government in Assam (and Himanta’s 2.0 administration), was specifically aimed at targeting a particular community.

On a previous occasion as well, the Himanta government had raised issues such as “Love Jihad” in the Legislative Assembly, specifically targeting the Muslim community.

Meanwhile, Himanta Biswa Sarma has previously stated that banning polygamy and “deceitful religious conversions” is part of Assam’s move toward a UCC-like framework. This echoes recommendations of the Justice (Retd.) Rumi Kumari Phukan Committee, which examined the legal viability of such a measure.

Related:

Assam Government to table ‘Love Jihad’ and polygamy bills, CM Sarma says parents of male accused will also face arrest

The post Assam: Bill on Uniform Civil Code (UCC), a partisan act? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

According to the police statement, both Verma and Choudhary were allegedly associated with “Mazdoor Bigul Dasta” and had played a “significant role” in the violence, arson and disruption that accompanied the workers’ protest. Police further claimed that the two attempted to disturb public order by “provoking” workers in different areas and circulating inflammatory material. Senior police officers, quoted in report by The Times of India, cited CCTV footage, electronic evidence, intelligence inputs and social media activity as the basis for invoking the NSA, a preventive detention law that permits incarceration for up to one year without trial on grounds related to national security or maintenance of public order.

The use of the NSA against the two has, however, triggered strong criticism from lawyers, labour rights groups, civil liberties organisations and campaigners associated with the Campaign for the Release of Workers and Activists of Noida (CaRWAN), who have termed the move an attempt to indefinitely prolong incarceration after the prosecution allegedly failed to establish concrete evidence during bail proceedings. Supreme Court advocate Ali Zia Kabir Choudhary, representing several accused in the matter, told The Wire that neither the accused nor their legal teams had been formally provided documents explaining the grounds on which the NSA was invoked. He pointed out that under constitutional safeguards, including Article 22 concerning protection against arrest and detention; the arrested persons are entitled to be informed of the grounds of detention.

“The only detail we have is the police press release. No papers have been supplied. In court we argued that there is not a single piece of evidence showing that Satyam or others called for violence,” Choudhary said while speaking to The Wire, adding that in Verma’s case, police had allegedly failed to show that he was even part of any WhatsApp groups cited during arguments. He further alleged that the prosecution relied largely on unrelated photographs and chats involving persons who were not arrested.

Timing of NSA invocation raises concerns

CaRWAN, in a statement issued on May 13 and cited by The Wire, questioned the timing of the NSA charges, noting that the law was invoked only after the prosecution faced difficulty during bail hearings. The collective stated that during the hearing, defence counsel highlighted the “emptiness of the charges” and the “illegality of the arrests,” while prosecutors allegedly failed to present substantial incriminating material against either Verma or Choudhary. The group argued that the accused had already spent over a month in judicial custody and that the sudden invocation of the NSA appeared designed solely to ensure continued detention.

The police crackdown follows weeks of unrest linked to industrial workers’ protests in Noida and Greater Noida. As reported by Hindustan Times, the demonstrations began on April 10 after the Haryana government announced a substantial increase in minimum wages for workers, prompting labourers in Noida’s industrial belt to demand similar hikes, better overtime compensation and improved working conditions. While protests remained largely peaceful in the initial days, violence broke out on April 13 across several industrial sectors, during which factories were allegedly vandalised, vehicles torched and police personnel injured in incidents of stone pelting.

Following the violence, the Uttar Pradesh Police launched a sweeping crackdown. Multiple FIRs, various reports place the number between seven and fifteen, were registered across police stations including Phase II and Sector 63. According to The Indian Express, hundreds of people were detained in the aftermath, while at least 60 individuals remain incarcerated on charges ranging from rioting and criminal conspiracy to attempt to murder. Police have consistently maintained, including in statements carried by The Hindu and Hindustan Times, that the violence was not spontaneous but orchestrated by an “organised syndicate of outsiders.”

Activists, students and scholars among those arrested

The arrests have drawn particular attention because many of those booked are students, researchers, labour organisers and activists rather than industrial workers themselves.

Satyam Verma, a 60-year-old journalist based in Lucknow, was arrested on April 17. According to The Indian Express, Verma previously worked with the news agency Univarta and has been associated with Janchetna Books and Jagaruk Nagrik Manch. He has also written for the labour publication Mazdoor Bigul, after which the organisation “Mazdoor Bigul Dasta” is allegedly named. Friends and supporters quoted in The Indian Express described him as a writer, translator and editor deeply engaged with labour rights and progressive literature. He is also the son of noted historian and academic Lal Bahadur Verma.

Civil rights groups have strongly disputed police claims portraying Verma as a “main conspirator.” CaRWAN stated in comments carried by The Times of India and The Wire that Verma was not present in Noida during the protests and had reportedly not visited the city in over a decade. His associates argue that the prosecution has attempted to criminalise ideological affiliations rather than establish any direct role in violence.

Aakriti Choudhary, 25, a postgraduate in history from Delhi University’s Daulat Ram College and an aspiring PhD scholar, was detained by plainclothes officers at Noida’s Botanical Garden Metro Station on April 11 — two days before the violence erupted. The Hindu reported that police initially claimed she was detained for disturbing public order, but later alleged that subsequent investigation uncovered evidence linking her to organising the protests.

Her father, Arun Choudhary, associated with the CPI(M) mouthpiece Ganashakti, questioned in comments to The Indian Express how someone detained before April 13 could be charged with orchestrating violence that occurred later. He defended his daughter’s participation in labour solidarity campaigns and criticised attempts to equate Left political beliefs with criminality. Defence lawyers similarly noted, according to Hindustan Times, that during proceedings prosecutors allegedly presented a book recovered from her residence as evidence of “Left-wing ideology.”

Concerns over criminalisation of ideology and dissent

It has been argued that the prosecution’s case increasingly appears to rely on political profiling rather than direct evidence of criminal conduct. Rajnish Yadav, counsel for Choudhary and other accused, told The Indian Express that the activists had merely participated in solidarity efforts, including speeches and street plays supporting workers demanding fair wages. He compared their participation to broader solidarity movements seen during the farmers’ protests.

The police have also arrested several other young activists and students. Among them is Aditya Anand, a 28-year-old NIT Jamshedpur graduate employed at Genpact, arrested from Tiruchirappalli on April 18. According to The Indian Express, police allege he delivered “provocative” speeches and organised marches during the protests. His family, however, portrayed him as a socially conscious engineer deeply engaged in labour rights issues and associated with the Naujawan Bharat Sabha.

Another accused, Himanshu Thakur, a 24-year-old history postgraduate from Hansraj College and a NET-qualified PhD aspirant, was arrested from Delhi’s Shalimar Bagh on allegations of coordinating protests and instigating crowds. His family told The Indian Express that he was the sole earning member of the household who supplemented family income through freelance translation work while advocating for students’ and women’s rights.

Families of working-class accused have also described devastating economic consequences following the arrests. The Indian Express reported that Amit Kumar, a 19-year-old worker from Prayagraj earning ₹8,000 a month in Noida, and Pankaj Kumar, a mason from New Ashok Nagar, are among those whose detention has reportedly pushed already vulnerable families into debt and unemployment.

Questions over misuse of the NSA

The use of the NSA in Uttar Pradesh has long been controversial. In April 2021, an investigation by The Indian Express reported that the Allahabad High Court had raised concerns over the apparent misuse of the law after red-flagging 94 out of 120 habeas corpus petitions involving NSA detentions. Similarly, Newslaundry reported in 2022 that police proposals seeking NSA sanctions in communal violence cases had invoked conspiracy narratives such as “land jihad.”

It must be pointed out that the NSA, unlike ordinary criminal law, allows preventive detention through executive orders without the procedural protections of a regular criminal trial. Human rights advocates have repeatedly warned that the law is frequently deployed to circumvent bail and prolong incarceration where ordinary criminal charges may not withstand judicial scrutiny. The invocation of the NSA in the Noida workers’ protest case has therefore intensified concerns regarding the shrinking space for labour organising, student activism and political dissent.

Related:

JNU Students Lathi-charged, Injured, first detained during protest over V-C remarks, UGC Equity guidelines, now Jailed

UGC Guidelines 2026: AISA Protest at Delhi University followed by sexual abuse allegations amid police presence

When Protest becomes a “Threat”: Inside the Supreme Court hearing on Sonam Wangchuk’s NSA detention

Solidarity with protests of locals against projects facilitating coal transportation (Goa to Karnataka): NAPM

‘We Were Promised Rehabilitation’: Gurugram’s oldest Dalit settlement bulldozed after decade long battle; police violently beat and detain residents for protesting

The post NSA slapped on journalist, DU scholar in Noida workers’ protest case amid allegations of crackdown on dissent appeared first on SabrangIndia.

According to Kolkata Police Commissioner Ajay Kumar Nand, the arrest followed a complaint lodged by the District Election Officer (DEO) of Kolkata North. Police stated that Chatterjee had been summoned twice during the inquiry but allegedly failed to appear before investigators, prompting the cyber cell to proceed with his arrest.

“The complaint against him was lodged by the District Election Officer of Kolkata North, following which the cyber cell initiated action. He was summoned twice in connection with the matter, but he did not appear, and that is the reason why he was arrested,” Commissioner Nand told reporters at Lalbazar police headquarters, as quoted by The Hindu.

Police officials said Chatterjee would be produced before a court on Wednesday.

Posts on EVMs and Election Commission under scanner

Investigators allege that Chatterjee circulated misleading claims regarding EVM functioning and attempted to create distrust around the electoral process through social media posts made during polling and counting phases of the election, according to The Indian Express.

Officials told The Indian Express that on April 23, during the first phase of polling, Chatterjee publicly questioned why certain EVMs reportedly malfunctioned in the morning despite undergoing checks the previous night. In another social media post on May 4, the day votes were counted, he allegedly accused the Election Commission of India of carrying out a “secret plan” during the counting process.

Police have described these statements as attempts to spread confusion and misinformation surrounding the conduct of elections and the functioning of EVMs, according to The Telegraph.

Chatterjee had also advised voters through social media posts to verify VVPAT slips carefully before leaving polling booths after casting their votes, The Indian Express reported.

Academic-turned-activist and Bengali identity politics

A Harvard-educated neuroscientist and faculty member at the Indian Statistical Institute, Chatterjee became widely known in recent years for his political activism centred on Bengali linguistic and cultural identity, as noted by The Indian Express.

Founded in 2017, Bangla Pokkho has consistently campaigned for prioritising Bengali language, culture and employment opportunities for local youth in West Bengal. The organisation has also opposed what it describes as the “imposition” of Hindi in the State, according to The Hindu.

During the 2026 Assembly elections, Chatterjee had publicly urged voters to support either the All India Trinamool Congress or Left Front candidates while opposing the Bharatiya Janata Party, which he characterised as a party of “outsiders”, The Hindu reported.

CLEAR calls arrest an “assault on democratic dissent”

In the wake of the arrest, the Campaign for Language Equality and Rights (CLEAR), a civil society platform advocating linguistic equality and mother tongue rights, issued a strongly worded statement condemning the police action and demanding the immediate and unconditional release of Garga Chatterjee. Describing Chatterjee as a “neuroscientist, cultural activist” and one of CLEAR’s founding members, the organisation argued that the arrest amounted to “a direct assault on freedom of speech, democratic dissent, and the constitutional rights of every citizen.”

Invoking Articles 19(1)(a) and 21 of the Constitution, CLEAR cited recent observations of the Supreme Court of India affirming the right of citizens to criticise state institutions and peacefully dissent against government decisions. The statement further argued that public scrutiny of EVMs and the electoral process had repeatedly been recognised as legitimate within constitutional democracy, including in cases such as Subramanian Swamy v. Election Commission of India and Association for Democratic Reforms v. Election Commission of India. “Questioning EVMs is not sedition. It is democracy,” the statement said.

CLEAR also expressed concern over the fact that the complaint against Chatterjee had reportedly originated from the Election Commission of India itself, arguing that this raised “serious concerns regarding conflict of interest and the use of state machinery to silence criticism.” The organisation further alleged that no specific social media posts had been publicly identified as forming the basis of the FIR, calling the arrest “arbitrary, disproportionate, and contrary to the principles of natural justice.” Alongside demanding withdrawal of the complaint and transparency regarding the FIR, CLEAR called upon civil society groups and democratic organisations across the country to stand in solidarity with Chatterjee.

Political parties liberation demands release

Reacting to the arrest, Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, criticised the police action and demanded Chatterjee’s immediate release.

According to The Indian Express, Bhattacharya described Chatterjee as a “well-known campaigner for Bengali identity and electoral transparency” and objected to the arrest over posts concerning alleged EVM tampering.

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra took to social media to show her support.

I may not be a fan of Garga Chatterjee but arresting him & taking down his @GargaC X handle shows just how paranoid the new BJP Bengal government is. Banglar Bipokhhe Bangla Birodhi is the true face of this Parivartan. Make no mistake.

— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) May 12, 2026

Previous arrests and controversies

This is not the first time Chatterjee has faced criminal proceedings over controversial remarks. In 2022, he was arrested following multiple FIRs filed in Assam accusing him of hurting Assamese sentiments and promoting enmity between communities after he allegedly referred to Sukaphaa, founder of the Ahom dynasty, as a “Chinese invader”, according to The Telegraph.

The controversy led to intervention by the Gauhati High Court, which issued directions concerning the execution of a non-bailable warrant against him. He was later granted transit bail subject to appearing before a court in Guwahati, as reported by The Telegraph. Separately, Bangla Pokkho members had also come under scrutiny in 2024 after two students from Bihar appearing for a Staff Selection Commission examination in Siliguri were allegedly assaulted. The Indian Express reported that a person linked to the organisation was detained in connection with the incident.

Related:

Bengal after the Ballot: Fear, retaliation and the politics of territorial power

As lynchings “normalise” in ‘New India, a Bihar imam is ‘thrashed, pushed’ from train to die in Bareilly

From FIRs to “Corporate Jihad”: How the TCS Nashik case was transformed from an investigation into a communal narrative

Fractured Fault lines: Violence, governance gaps, and rising tensions across Odisha

Censorship and the Drumbeats of Hate: Mapping the state of free speech ahead of the 2026 polls

The post ‘Bangla Pokkho’ founder Garga Chatterjee arrested over alleged EVM misinformation ahead of Bengal polls appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The opening paras of the article says it all, “It was waiting to happen. Only the “when” was not clear. The buildings in the industrial areas of the National Capital Region (NCR), with their glitzy interiors, could not camouflage the simmering anger of workers inside any longer. When what started as a small bubble of frustration took on the force of a volcanic eruption, fuelled by the oppressive conditions imposed by hostile employers and abetted by compliant governments, nothing could put a lid on it…Thus, in mid-April, workers poured out of their factories, striking work in the industrial area of the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (Noida) in Uttar Pradesh, fully conscious of the reprisals and the heavy hand of the state that would come into play as the official reaction to their action. But it was a moment that the workers truly owned, and there was no factory that was unaffected…. There was no coordinated action, no direct union involvement. Yet, it seemed like magic. As per some official reports, workers across 82 factories struck work protesting against the 12-hour, 7-day working week and the harsh and unsafe working conditions within the factories, all for a measly monthly wage of Rs. 11,000 to Rs. 12,000.”

On November 21, 2025, the Government began implementing the four Labour Codes (on Wages, Industrial Relations, Social Security, and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions). Concerned citizens, trade unions and opposition parties label them ‘anti-worker.’ Most regard these codes as favouring the corporate sector. Their ‘anti-worker’ dimensions include ‘the hire and fire policy’; ‘curtailing right to strike’; ‘expansion of Fixed-Term Employment (FTE); ‘diluted safety & welfare’

The way the NOIDA workers came out in droves to protest their grim reality is a case in point! The Uttar Pradesh government announced a 21% wage hike, but many workers and unions deemed this insufficient. The police have taken legal action against those (apparently several thousands) involved in the violence. On expected lines, the godified media did not highlight the plight and the protest of the NOIDA workers. The situation of the ordinary worker (particularly casual labourers and migrant workers) in India leaves much to be desired: most of them are at the mercy of employers who are exploitative and corrupt. Workers are often denied just wages and have long hours of work. Many do not get appointment letters nor are there the mandatory ‘Service Conditions.’ Trade Unions in India have become almost non-existent. The COVID period revealed the miserable conditions of the working class.

The month of May begins with the ‘International Workers’ Day’. This Day normally focuses on honouring the global workforce, promoting labour rights, and fighting exploitation. The Catholic Church has consistently championed the cause and the rights of workers. On 15 May 1891, Pope Leo XIII gave the world his path-breaking encyclical, ‘Rerum Novarum’ (‘Of New Things’), regarded as the foundational document of modern Catholic Social Teaching. The encyclical addressed the plight of the working class during the Industrial Revolution. It advocates for worker dignity, the right to form unions, and a just wage, while defending private property and rejecting both socialism and unrestrained capitalism.

In his Encyclical ‘Laborem Exercens’ (On human work), dtd. 14 September 1981, Pope John Paul writes, “the Church considers it her task always to call attention to the dignity and rights of those who work, to condemn situations in which that dignity and those rights are violated, and to help to guide [social] changes so as to ensure authentic progress by man and society.” Later, on 1 May 1991, he promulgated another Encyclical ‘Centesimus Annus’ (‘The Hundredth Year’) to commemorate the historic anniversary of ‘Rerum Novarum’. It reiterated the fundamental vision, of ‘Rerum Novarum’ and   expounded issues of social and economic justice, including a defense of private property rights and the right to form private associations, including labour unions

In keeping with the significance of the day, the Catholic Church celebrates it as the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. Pope Pius XII established it in 1955, to honour Joseph as the patron of workers and to celebrate the dignity of human labour.

A year ago, on May 8, 2025, Pope Leo XIV was elected to succeed Pope Francis; he assumed office on 18 May. When asked to explain his choice of name, Pope Leo said, “I chose to take the name Leo XIV. There are different reasons for this, but mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic Encyclical ‘Rerum Novarum’ addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution. In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and labour.”

The Catholic Church has been consistent in defending the rights of workers for a more dignified, just and humane life. Cardinal Joseph Cardijn (1882-1967),  founder of the Young Christian Workers , left no stone unturned to focus on the plight of workers and ensure that the teachings of ‘Rerum Novarum’ are mainstreamed in the life and mission of the Church.

Pope Leo XIII says it very strongly in his ‘Rerum Novarum’, “(We must) save unfortunate working people from the cruelty of men of greed, who use human beings as mere instruments for money-making. It is neither just nor human to grind men down with excessive labour.”

The point is:  is anyone listening? Workers must unite! We must heed their cry for justice! We are all called to be in solidarity with workers, to ensure that they have better working conditions, with just wages, normal working hours and above all, to live in dignity!

 April 30, 2026

(The author is a human rights, reconciliation and peace activist)

Related:

India’s New Labour Codes: A critical appraisal

Lockdown has reduced lives of bidi labourers to ashes!

Bandna Parab: A festival that celebrates light and life

Will the 125-year old Bolpur Poush Mela be held this year?

The post Workers Cry for Justice! appeared first on SabrangIndia.

These demands have surfaced following concerns “regarding rights violations of this community

 In the context of the Amrabad Tiger Reserve, in Nagarkurnool district of Telangana; both the Adivasis and activists-in-solidarity have strongly asserted the legal and democratic rights of the Chenchu community in the Nallamalla forests. 

According to a press note issued by a solidarity forum, a series of actions last week – including 

1. The letters sent to various Central and state authorities and meetings with senior state officials, 
2. The Hyderabad civil society round table, on April 17, in which a large number of Chenchu Adivasis spoke resolutely against involuntary relocation and 
3. In the Prajavani meeting with Mr. Chinna Reddy, (Vice-Chairman of State Planning Board), where Chenchu adivasis were assured that their rights would be safeguarded and district forest officials were asked to comply with law. 

Some of the key demands in all these meetings and representations include 

1. An immediate end to issuing cheques and forcible relocation, in violation of law, 
2. Pursuing the harmonious co-existence model in Amrabad Tiger Reserve and ensuring the democratic participation of communities in forest governance 
3. Withdrawal of fabricated cases against Chenchu Adivasi leaders and 
4. Full compliance with all the relevant laws including the Forest Rights Act, 2006; especially community forest rights and habitat rights of Chenchus, Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 (as amended in 2006), Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 and the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation Act, 2013. 

As is well known, Chenchus are a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) residing in the Nallamalla forests of Telangana, since generations. They are recorded as one of the ancient food gathering communities with rich traditional knowledge of forest produce, medicinal plants and live in close association with nature. As also recommended by Sir Christoph Von Haimendorf in 1940, their cultural significance with Nallamala forest should be rightly recognized, by declaring the region as a ‘Chenchu Conservation Bio-Reserve’, in order to protect their socio-cultural rights and their natural habitats. 

However, states the press release, the introduction of ‘Project Tiger’, has resulted in persistent efforts to forcibly relocate them from their natural habitats. The latest threat to their co-existence in the forest has been by way of cheques being issued in March 2026, by senior ministers of the state government, as part of Amrabad Tiger Reserve ‘Relocation package’. It is a gross injustice that without appropriate consultation and consent, as mandated by law, the Chenchu Adivasis are sought to be removed and relocated outside the Schedule-V Area, where they would have no access to wild foods or forest produce and where they will lose all their Scheduled Area constitutional safeguards. 

In this context, many Chenchu community members from affected villages of Sarlapally, Vatwarlapally, Kollampenta, Rayuletupenta, Uppununtala, Kudichintalabayalu came to Hyderabad on April 17, 2026 to submit petitions to the Chief Minister, through the Prajavani Grievance Cell, against the involuntary relocation and excesses of the Forest Department. They also shared their struggles and perspectives with many civil society and citizens groups, during a well-attended round table consultation on the same day. The youth and women gave very clear and cogent reasons as to why they do not want to leave their forest and how there was no proper consent or consultation with their Gram Sabhas. As Chiguru Nagamma of Kommanipenta said, “We have seen how our forefathers were displaced for other projects and whatever money came was wasted on liquor, so we do not want any money or land somewhere else. We will survive in the forest that has sustained us”. 

For example:

Tirupathaiah of Sarlapally gave examples of how basic development activities are not being allowed in their villages and how even the banks or government departments are refusing to give them loans or benefits of schemes because they are under ‘relocation’. Mallikarjun, the ex-Sarpanch, spoke about how their forest rights under the RoFR Act are pending and that shifting them outside the Scheduled Area would make them lose all their constitutional entitlements under PESA, FRA, LARR and LTR Acts. Guravaiah stated that he filed several detailed RTIs and appeals seeking information about the relocation details, but did not receive proper responses. 

The youth expressed their anguish that they are being criminalised with false cases for speaking out for their rights. They said that, along with state officials, some ‘pro-conservation groups’ are also creating a false narrative of ‘voluntary relocation’. They claimed that most of the people whose consent was taken so far, are not Adivasis and they are non-local people, who want to benefit from the package. The Chenchu women said that their men are being given petty jobs (such as forest watchers) to put pressure on their families for giving consent to relocate. This is a deliberate attempt to divide the Chenchus and create friction among them. However, they very clearly conveyed that they will not give consent to any relocation package and would continue to co-exist with the wildlife in harmony, as that is how the Chenchus always survived in the forest.

Speakers at the consultation also raised many legal concerns including non-implementation of the Forest Rights Act, non-recognition of community forest rights and habitat rights of Chenchus. They spoke on the deliberate misinterpretation of the Wildlife Protection Act to displace Chenchus in the name of making the forests ‘inviolate’, violations under PESA and lack of prior informed consent procedures, non-implementation of the Land Acquisition Act of 2013 (LARR). The recent relocation of Adivasis from Mysampet and Rampur in Kawal tiger reserve where the displaced community became landless wage labour still awaiting the promised land and cash compensation is a classic example of non-compliance with legal and statutory accountability mechanisms in relocation.  

Veteran civil rights activist Prof. Haragopal said that the State wants Chenchus out of the forest, both because Adivasi regions are mineral resource rich, but also because the capitalist order wants to extinguish the selfless and community way of living of Adivasis. Other activists who were present and spoke at the Consultation in solidarity include Usha Seethalakshmi, K. Satyavathi, Sajaya K, Dr. Ramkishan, Sandhya V, Ashalatha S, Bhanu Kalluri, Girija, Ravi Kanneganti, Shankar, Kalpana, Meera Sanghamitra, Sanjeev, Soumitri, Ravichander etc.  

The efforts over the past three months, by the Community Forest Rights Working Group of Telangana also resulted in the formation of the Chenchu Solidarity Forum (CSF), on the eve of Earth Day. As an independent citizens’ collective to support the struggles of the Chenchu Adivasi communities, co-existence and democratic governance in Nallamalla forests and ensure their rights, guaranteed by various laws and the Constitution, are not violated. 

Key demands submitted to the Telangana government are:

• Immediately stop issuing cheques and stop the process of unconstitutional relocation of the Chenchus living in Amrabad tiger reserve area.
• Implement the Forest Rights Act including recognition of Community Forest Rights and Habitat Rights, settlement of pending IFR claims and resurvey of claims rejected and pending.
• The forest department has to place in public domain the mandatory report as per WLPA (with 2006 amendment) of the scientific study conducted in consultation with the Chenchus, that proves ‘irrevocable damage to wildlife’ by the Chenchus.
• The forest department should make public the details of core and buffer zone demarcations, details of consultations conducted with concerned Gram Sabhas and details of conditions on which consent was obtained, including details of Social Impact Assessment report, R&R Plan, Gram Sabha resolutions and consent letters.
• Government must share the details of notifying villages in core and buffer zones in Amrabad Tiger Reserve. 
• Strengthen the governance of forests through co-existence of Chenchus with their forests and wildlife using the Constitutional and legal mechanisms of the PESA, FRA, LARR for community centred conservation which is globally recognized as the most sustainable form of Conservation and Climate Protection. 
• Withdraw all the false criminal cases on the Chenchu youth, community leaders and intimidation tactics to prevent them from voicing their concerns. 
• Safeguard the Nallamalla ecosystem and declare the Nallamalla forests as Chenchu Conservation Bio-Region Reserve.

Related:

Thousands of Adivasis demand the implementation of FRA 2006

Breaking: All Intervention Applications defending FRA, 2006 admitted by SC

Woman, Van Gujjar, Forest Dweller – the roles & intersectionalities in Mariam’s life

Mass protests & Sansad Gherao against continued Adivasi evictions

Compilation of Forest Rights Act, Rules, and Guidelines

Frequently Asked Questions on the Forest Rights Act, 2006

Counter Affidavit filed by MoTa in support of tribal rights in the FRA

The post Telangana: Stop forcible ‘re-location of Chenchu Adivasis from Amrabad Tiger Reserve appeared first on SabrangIndia.

A bench of Justice Shekhar B Saraf and Justice Abdhesh Kumar Chaudhary thus quashed a 2021 order passed by the District Level Committee, Lakhimpur, refusing to finalise the claims of 107 ‘Tharu’ community members for forest rights, specifically the right to collect and use minor forest produce for their livelihood. The Order of the High Court was passed on April 9, 2026.

In sum, in its order, the Committee, constituted under the Schedule Tribe and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Rules, 2007, had relied on an interim order passed by the Supreme Court in the year 2000 under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, to reject the claim of the petitioners. The petition was filed by the NGO Udasa and 101 members of the Tharu community. The petitioners, residents of the Palia Kalan area in Lakhimpur Kheri and members of a Scheduled Tribe, had challenged a March 15, 2021, order that dismissed their claims to community forest rights.

The petitioners moved the High Court seeking the quashing of the district-level committee’s rejection of their claims. They argued that as forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes, they are entitled to specific rights under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

It was the case of the petitioners that the Forest Rights Act 2006 was enacted specifically for the benefit of the Scheduled Tribes and traditional forest dwellers. They contended that under Section 3 of the Act, their rights include the ownership, access, and use of minor forest produce traditionally collected within or outside village boundaries.

Furthering this argument, the petitioners also relied on a 2013 Ministry of Tribal Affairs circular clarifying that the 2006 Act, being a subsequent statute, supersedes all preceding court judgments or orders of prior date. The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court found justification in their stance and noted that the 2006 Act aims to recognize and vest the forest and occupation in forest land to these forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and to ensure their livelihood and food security.

On a close reading of the case, the High Court observed that the district-level committee had fundamentally erred in its approach. The court noted that the committee failed to properly consider the intent and specific provisions of the Forest Rights Act, 2006. Instead, the authority had relied solely on an interim order passed by the Supreme Court in the year 2000 to justify the rejection of the claims. The bench emphasized that the primary objective of the 2006 Act is to recognise the traditional rights of forest-dwelling communities and to secure their livelihood and food security. Explaining this further, the Court clarified that with the enactment of this Act, the legislature had not created any new rights for these forest dwellers, rather it had recognized the existing rights and occupation of these people, who had been traditionally restricted to this place of dwelling in forest owing to various historical reasons.

The court noted in its Order that:

“The objective of the Act is to recognise the traditional rights of forest-dwelling communities and ensure their livelihood and food security, which cannot be overlooked.”

The judges also pointed out that the 2006 legislation was enacted specifically to address historical injustices and to provide a legal framework for the rights of these communities, making it imperative for committees to apply the Act’s provisions rather than relying on outdated interim orders It was against this backdrop that the Court found fault with the impugned order, which the bench said had not taken into account the relevant provisions of the 2006 Act and had only dealt with the Supreme Court interim order passed in 2000, prior to the enactment of the Act.

Following this, the court quashed the March 15, 2021, order and directed the concerned district authority to rehear the matter. The bench mandated that the petitioners be provided a full opportunity for a hearing and that a “reasoned order” be passed within a reasonable timeframe after a thorough examination of all relevant facts and records.

Furthermore, the court provided interim protection to the Tharu community members, clarifying that until the fresh decision is reached, the petitioners will continue to enjoy their existing forest rights without disruption.

In its Order, the Court highlighted that Section 4 of the Act begins with a non-obstante clause, meaning that the central government recognizes and vests these rights notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force.

Advocates Nandini Verma, Desh Deepak Singh and Rajat Srivastava apeared for the petitioners. The judgement in Udasa and 106 others vs Union of India, Thru.the Secy. Ministry of Tribal Affairs New Delhi and 5 others may be read here:

Related:

MoEFCC subverting the Forest Rights Act, 2006: 150 Citizens groups

Independent experts, not government servants must be part of the CEC while deciding the challenge to Forest Conservation Act: Former bureaucrats to SC

Destruction of forest in Kancha Gachibowli, Telangana violation of Congress party manifesto: CCG Statement

AIUFWP submits letter LoP Rahul Gandhi, calls for action as forest rights remain in limbo

Adivasi Land Rights Erosion: The effects of the 2023 Forest Conservation Amendment Act

The post Victory for Forest Rights: Allahabad HC recognises land claims of Tharu Tribes, strikes down decision of DLC appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Samrat Choudhary has been saying, on no less than half a dozen occasions that the Bihar government has struck of 22-lakh names off Bihar’s electoral rolls (a power only with the Election Commission!). He goes further to state that Aadhar and other benefits of these ‘22-lakh persons’ will also be snatched away.  Who are these 22-lakh persons anyway?

Three days after he was appointed as CM of the state on April 15, replacing the doyen of the Janata Dal United (JD-U), Nitish Kumar, Choudhary made this extraordinary claim as reported by The Indian Express. Prior to this appointment, since late February 2026, during campaign stints in West Bengal he had been boastful of this ‘achievement’ by the new Bihar government. “So far, we have struck off the names of 22-lakh people and stopped their ration as well in Bihar. We will cancel their driving licenses and other cards as well,” Choudhary has stated emphatically.”

Ironically, antithetical to these hysterical claims are the facts from the ground. Bihar was the first state, pre-assembly poll to conduct a hurried and unchecked Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of its electoral rolls in 2025, an exercise that came under sharp criticism and much scrutiny. During this controversial process, while approximately 65-lakh deletions took place without sufficient time for independent adjudication of the action, the 22-lakh figure only corresponded to “deletions.” Now deletions are usually on account of duplicate enrolment, shifting of voters or the fact that they may be deceased. The media had widely reported between June-November 2025 that no largescale existence of “illegal immigrants” was identified or noticed by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

One issue of crucial concern therefore then is ‘where has the figure of 22-lakhs being projected by the Bihar CM come from?” Second, what about the adjudication process for the entire 65-lakh exclusions in the state? Third, the  moot question of whether or not an elected government in secular, democratic India is empowered to simply deny the right to an Aadhar card, or government scheme benefits to any person previously accessing these benefits without application of mind or independent judgement?

Before, during and after the SIR exercise in Bihar the Election Commission of India (ECI) under CEC Gyanesh Kumar has been squarely accused of partisan conduct, conduct unbefitting a Constitutional body since its actions aligned squarely with the ruling dispensation.

Ironically, but not coincidentally, the first week of April 2026, also saw a spate of “news reports” from Bihar around union home minister, Amit Shah’s visit to the Seemanchal areas of the state. As reported by ETV Bharat, Shah’s visit to the Seemanchal region during which he reviewed border security, the issue of illicit foreign settlers, law and order and other security-related situations in Kishanganj, Araria, Purnea, Katihar and other adjoining districts.

In line with this development, the news channel quoted a senior official of the state’s home department, additional chief secretary, Arvind Kumar Chaudhary stating that a ‘fresh letter had been written to all districts to identify suspected foreigners in their jurisdiction and if such persons are not living with valid documents, ‘their process of deportation would begin!’  Bihar government officials also ‘revealed that biometric data of those identified would be collected and uploaded to a central database maintained by the Union Home Ministry to streamline identification and prevent their re-entry.’

Where does the 22-lakh figure come from?

In early 2026, Vote for Democracy’s report on the Bihar polls, “An Audit of the Stolen Mandate” Bihar 2025 VFD Report Findings had recorded details of what the report termed “Mass disenfranchisement by design.” These stated that, according to official ECI data, the numerical impact of a hastily conducted SIR was staggering:

• On June 24, 2025, Bihar had 7.89 crore registered electors.
• By the Draft Roll of August 1, 2025, this fell to 7.24 crore, reflecting 65.69 lakh deletions.
• The Final Roll of September 30, 2025 stood at approximately 7.42 crore electors.

Yet, the report found that only 3.66 lakh voters were actually confirmed as ineligible. The scale of deletions was therefore grossly disproportionate, pointing not to routine correction but to electoral roll engineering.

Between July 21 and 25 alone, over 21.27 lakh voters were deleted in just three days—an implausible figure by any administrative standard. During this period, 5.44 lakh voters were marked ‘dead’, while 14.24 lakh were labelled ‘permanently shifted’. The number of voters marked ‘untraceable’ rose by 809% overnight, while not a single “foreigner” was identified—despite this being cited as a key justification for the revision.

Opaque ‘rectification’ and mathematical impossibilities

The report further exposed deep inconsistencies in the ECI’s claims of rectification. While the Commission stated that approximately 17 lakh objections or applications were received, the actual changes reflected in the rolls affected around 22-lakh entries. Even after accounting for corrections, the final voter count should have mathematically stood at approximately 7.38 crore, yet the ECI declared 7.42 crore electors, leaving an unexplained excess of 3.24 lakh voters.

No independent audit, reconciliation statement, or transparent explanation has been provided for this discrepancy.

Pre-poll manipulation after election notification

Electoral norms require that voter rolls be effectively frozen once elections are notified. However, the report documents that even after notification:

• On October 6, 2025, Bihar had 7.43 crore electors.
• By poll day, this had increased to 7.46 crore.

This means 3.34 lakh voters were added in just ten days, including a sudden and unexplained spike in youth voters—raising serious questions about roll sanctity during the election period.

1.3 The “Rectification” Fraud

• Discrepancy in Objections: ECI claimed only 17,00,000 (16,56,886+ 36,475 = 16,93,361)
• Applications were received by the September 1 deadline. However, actual changes were
• Performed on as many as 22-lakh entries.

The Calculation Anomaly:

• ECI reported additions of 16,56,886 (Form 6) + 36,475 (Claims) and exclusions of

2,17,0493.

• Net Addition Calculation: Should have been 14,76,312 added to the 7.24 Crore

base, totalling 7.38 Crore.

• Actual Figure (Sept 30): ECI declared 7.42 Crore (No. ECI/PN/313/2025)—a

hike of 3.24 Lakh over the calculated figure without explanation.

Multiple petitions were filed before the Supreme Court in July 2025 challenging the SIR process. These were moved by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), RJD MP Manoj Jha, TMC MP Mahua Moitra, and Social Activist Yogendra Yadav among several others. These petitions alleged that the SIR lacked statutory backing

under the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and Registration of Electors Rules,

1960, imposed onerous documentation requirements, and risked large-scale

disenfranchisement, particularly of migrants, the poor and marginalised communities.

Petitioners had also argued that the SIR effectively resembled a citizenship-style verification exercise

Unfortunately, while the irregularities in the Bengal SIR continue to be scrutinised by the Supreme Court of India due to an assertive role played by the Trinamool Congress ruling that state, Bihar’s excluded voters –whatever the actual number—remain abandoned and forgotten. By both the political Opposition and the Institutions of Democratic Governance. Even as the new CM makes boastful claims of ‘disenfranchising’ a staggering 22-lakh persons!

Related:

Bihar’s SIR process reveals an exercise of illegitimate powers, ECI forcing district machinery to resort to unethical practices: CCG’s Open Letter

Bihar SIR: 65 Lakh electors flagged for deletion, SC said “if there is mass exclusion, we will immediately step in”

ECI to SC: Voter ID insufficient for Bihar roll, defends citizenship verification power

Punjab University’s former dean writes to CJI: Bihar SIR threatens democracy, alleges ECI overreach & voter disenfranchisement

Non-Electors Within Electors: ECI reports over 61 lakh potential exclusions

The post Bihar “Infiltrator” Hysteria: Samrat Choudhary’s claims of disenfranchising 22-lakh people corresponds to ECI’s “deceased voters” figure appeared first on SabrangIndia.

When he was younger, Ali was a guard for the nation. During the summer of 1999, he fought in the freezing heights of Kargil. Two years later, in 2001, a mortar shell exploded near him during a border clash. This blast left him with a permanent ear injury, a daily reminder of his sacrifice. However, today, the country he fought for is asking him to prove he belongs here, as reported

As reported by The Indian Express, Ali’s name was suddenly removed from the voter list.

“I served this nation for 21 years, one month and one day. Yet today, my nationality – and my family’s – is being questioned,” Daud Ali as, told the Indian Express.

How a spelling mistake caused big problems

Ali’s problem did not start because he lacked documents or did anything illegal. It started because of a simple clerical mistake. When Ali checked the voter rolls recently, he was shocked to see his name was gone. The reason? A small spelling mistake in his father’s name in the official records. In a strict (selective) system that relies on computer data, a single wrong letter is enough to erase a citizen’s right to vote.

The problem gets worse when looking at his family history. Ali’s mother was a recognised citizen, and her name was on the 2002 voter list. She passed away in 2008. After finding out his name was deleted, Ali did exactly what the government asked.

“My mother’s name is in the voter list of 2002. I was called for a hearing in Baharampur. I submitted all the documents. But then not only mine but my son and two daughters’ names have all been deleted,” Ali told The Indian Express

The worst part of this rule is how it affects the whole family. Because Ali’s citizenship was questioned, his children’s records were checked and rejected too. As The Telegraph has reported regarding voter list issues in the state, a simple error for one person can take away the voting rights of an entire family.

“Because my name was removed, both of my daughter’s and a son’s names were struck off as well,” he told The Indian Express

Today, out of a family of five, only his 50-year-old wife, Minuwara Khatun, is still on the voter list. Ali and his three children have effectively lost their voting rights.

A stuck system: tribunals that do not work

Ali’s case is not the only one. The huge number of deletions shows a system that seems to focus more on removing names than helping real citizens. The government says people who were wrongly removed can appeal. They can go to special appellate tribunals to get their names back on the list.

However, the 19 appellate tribunals set up for these cases have not started working yet. For people like Ali, who have carefully gathered all their military and family records, there is nowhere to submit them. He tried to file a legal case with a tribunal, but nothing has happened. The offices are not active.

“I don’t know what else I can do or whom shall I approach,” a tired Ali told The Indian Express.

The state wants him to prove his citizenship, but the offices meant to check his proof are not open. For a former soldier used to clear rules and taking action, this endless wait is deeply insulting.

Bigger problems for democracy

For Ali, this is especially painful. The Indian Army gave him an identity. His military ID, pension papers, and medical records from his 2001 war injury all prove he served India. Yet, these strong proofs do not seem to matter to the local election office. The government pays his military pension but takes away his right to vote.

Without a working way to appeal, being “deleted” is a final punishment. Families like Ali’s are left stuck, waiting for a solution.

The heavy cost of disappointment

Today, his biggest burden is not just the physical tiredness of visiting government offices. It is deep disappointment. He realises that decades of loyal service and war injuries can be wiped out by a simple spelling mistake.

“It is deeply disappointing. After dedicating a long part of my life to serving the Indian army, this is the situation I find myself in today,” the veteran shared, summarising the quiet heartbreak of a forgotten hero.

As the country prepares for upcoming elections, will the state fix its mass mistakes before the next vote? Will the offices open so this veteran can prove who he is? Until then, Md. Daud Ali remains a soldier waiting again. This time, he is not waiting for orders to fight, but waiting for the basic right to call himself an Indian.

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