The advise offered by Dhirendra Krishna Shastri (Parchiwale baba, whom Prime Minister Modi calls his younger brother) in this regard, evoked reactions in fish and meat-eating West Bengal. The state is on the eve of celebrating its biggest festival, Durga Puja. The BJP swept to power in in West Bengal in early-mid 2026. Even before this, the visibility of BJP’s political assertion in the state has been accompanied by promotion of Lord Ram (over Maa Kaali/Durga). This is a move which had previously yielded rich electoral dividends for it in North India, also affecting the electoral scenario in India as a whole.

As the BJP government settled in to ‘governance’ in the state, the season for the annual Durga Puja came. And the party in power invited Shastri of Bageshwar Dham as its passport to vegetarianism. This was a testing tactic, a well-honed technique tried by the far right sangh parivar, to test its schemes before an all-out imposition.  He visited West Bengal for a ‘Hanuman Katha’ in Howrah’s Liluah. He advised the people to keep non-vegetarian food away from Durga idols during the Puja. Similar advice was already proffered by the RSS affiliate, the Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP). This triggered a storm among Bengali Hindus, including those calling themselves “Hindu nationalists”. There were statements and protests from prominent Bengalis that Shastri should not teach them how to celebrate Durga Puja and what to eat and what not.

The reaction was due to the fact that fish in particular but goat-meat too, during the Durga festival are almost mandatory to the menu. Many of them underlined that fish is very crucial to Bengali culture and the broad umbrella of Hindu religion has many tendencies where non-vegetarian food is part of the ritual. Many from former Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy to journalists and content creators, people from a diverse section, including those who described themselves as “Bengali Hindu nationalists”, retaliated. “Don’t tell a Bengali how to celebrate Durga Puja,” Kolkata-based content creator Shreyasi Biswas Banerjee wrote on Facebook. In the video (link attached), Biswas underlined that an “outsider” was prescribing rules for a festival embedded in Bengal’s distinct religious and culinary traditions. A few people even tore down posters of Shastri.

Suvendu Adhikari who had earlier received Shastri with great warmth thereafter attended a ceremony at a Durga temple and was seen consuming ‘Fish Prasad.’ A clear mitigatory gesture! Many right-wing sympathisers and detractors even stated that the core value of fish in Bengali culture.

India is a country full of diversities in all matters, food, clothing, language and religion. Hindus also have many sects and many diverse food habits. We have Kashmiri Pandits for whom Mutton dishes are as an inalienable part of their culture. The food habits are decided by multiple factors, geographical location being an important part of that. In Coastal areas, sea food is an important part of their diet.

However, the ruling regime has persisted this vegetarian imposition.

In the recently held BRICS meeting, in the Gala dinner (mid-September 2026), only vegetarian food was served. Indecently Xi Jing Ping skipped this dinner, whatever be his reasons! While serving only vegetarian food for international guests was criticised by the opposition parties, Kiran Rijiju, the minister and loyal handyman of the most powerful in the government, defended it by saying that the guests appreciated the menu.

The Uttar Pradesh (UP) Government (its chief minister is Yogi Adityanath) recently published a map of important food items of all districts of UP. In this culinary map, the much loved and savoured Lucknow’s Tunde kabab was missing!! Only vegetarian items were presented, as if UP consumes only the vegetarian food.

In yet another incident 14 Muslims were put behind the bars (some months ago) for having chicken biryani at their private Iftar party on a boat ride in Ganga River. Interestingly some Hindus who consumed liquor during another private boat ride were left un-policed.

Despite knowing the fact that nearly 70% of Indians are non-vegetarians, vegetarianism is being promoted by the BJP Governments, and at some places successfully. In Gujarat where BJP has been in power for the past three decades, non-vegetarian joints have been selectively invisibilised. Many people go to the restaurants near Gujarat border and satisfy their craving for non-vegetarian food.

This remains a dilemma for the majoritarian BJP: a balancing act between Indian’s prevalent food habits and their agenda of imposing vegetarianism. At every possible chance they and their cohorts try to push forward vegetarianism. Somehow BJP associates’ non-vegetarianism with Muslims (and Christians) in particular, never mind what history tells us about the food habits of early India. This bypassing of non-vegetarian food, an essential part of Indian food habits, irrespective of religion of the people is facing this dilemma. They get away with this aggressive vegetarianism in places like in Gujarat, however in WB, they are facing an opposition.

Human society has evolved through various stages, and food habits have always been very diverse. The aim of RSS-BJP and their political-cultural supporters remains to glorify vegetarianism purely for ideological reasons. There may be some other reasons for promoting Veganism or vegetarianism, but respect for people’s food habits is the starting point for a democratic society.

How much does this regime believe in democracy is free for all to see.

Related:

Non veg food ‘ban’: Student group plans protest at Delhi’s Hansraj College

Most Indians Non Vegetarian; Men More Than Women, South & East Most

Can majoritarian societal pressure re-write the rulebook? The illegality behind forced non-veg shutdowns during festivals

The post Politics through a forced imposition of food habits appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Paper leaks are often treated as an examination problem. For the students involved, it becomes a much bigger problem. A cancelled examination can mean starting preparation again, spending more money, travelling again and waiting months for another opportunity. For candidates close to the age limit, a delay can even affect their eligibility for another attempt.

The scale of the problem has been visible in some of India’s biggest examinations. The NEET UG 2024 controversy brought the issue into the national spotlight. The Central Bureau of Investigation investigated allegations surrounding the leakage of the examination paper in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. The controversy also raised questions about grace marks, examination centres and the overall conduct of the examination.

Government recruitment examinations have faced similar controversies. In 2024, allegations of a question paper leak affected the Bihar Public Service Commission’s teacher recruitment examination, with the commission cancelling the examination for candidates at one centre in Patna. Such cases show how a problem at one point in the examination system can affect thousands of young people waiting for a fair chance.

Think about an aspirant who has spent two years preparing for a government examination. They may have left a job, joined a coaching programme, borrowed money for preparation or moved to another city. On the morning of the examination, they are ready to finally see the result of that effort. Later, news breaks that the paper was leaked and the examination may have to be cancelled. For the authorities, it becomes an investigation. For the student, it can feel like another year has disappeared.

There is also a financial cost that rarely gets enough attention. Application fees, coaching, books, online courses, accommodation, travel and repeated preparation all add up. Not every aspirant comes from a family that can comfortably afford another attempt. A student from a financially weaker background may have to choose between preparing again and finding work to support the family.

Then comes the question of trust. The basic idea behind a competitive examination is simple: candidates should receive the same paper under the same conditions and compete on their preparation. If some candidates get access to the paper beforehand, that basic understanding of fairness breaks down. Students begin wondering whether hard work is enough or whether connections and money matter more.

This is especially serious in India because government jobs remain highly sought after by young people. They offer stability, regular income and social security at a time when many private sector jobs can be uncertain. A limited number of vacancies can attract a huge number of applicants. When an examination is cancelled or delayed, the competition does not disappear. It simply becomes another round of waiting for the same young people.

The responsibility for protecting an examination cannot be placed on students. They have already done their part by studying and appearing for the test. Examination agencies need stronger security systems, careful handling of question papers, better monitoring and quick action when irregularities are reported. Investigations also need to reach the people responsible instead of leaving students to carry the consequences.

There also needs to be greater transparency after a suspected leak. Students deserve to know what happened, why an examination was cancelled and when the next examination will take place. Recruitment calendars should be as predictable as possible, especially when thousands of young people plan their lives around them.

A paper leak may look like a few pages reaching the wrong hands. For a student, the loss can be much larger. It can mean lost time, lost money, another year of preparation and another period of uncertainty.

India often speaks about merit and equal opportunity. Those words only have meaning when the system protects the people who earn their place through honest effort. Young people preparing for examinations are not asking for an easier competition. They are asking for a fair one.

The exam leak crisis is therefore more than a problem of examination security. It is a youth issue. Every leaked paper raises the same question: when the system fails, who pays the price? Too often, it is the student who studied honestly.

 (Jyotiraditya Singh is a Youth Leader and Social Activist associated with Youth Forum India. He writes on youth, education, employment and public policy issues, with a focus on giving young people a stronger voice in public conversations.)

The post The youth caught in the exam leak crisis appeared first on SabrangIndia.

They discuss the meaning of words like “mastermind”, the uneven nature of the fight against state power, and why the struggle for justice and democracy must continue.

Watch the full conversation.

The post “If I Believe in Democracy, How Can I Give Up Hope?”| Umar Khalid: 2,190 Days | Banojyotsna | Teesta appeared first on SabrangIndia.

I see the same image now at a university bathroom on the corridor of the English Department, which exists to fight the very social evils that exist a few feet away from our cushioned seats of discussion. We discuss Ambedkar, and dignified labour, and then leave students to the cafeteria and teachers to their cabins in staffrooms, our break-spaces. The space the akkas receive? The bathroom floor.

Talking with a classmate who frequently interacts with the akkas, I came to know that the akkas have a designated breakroom—in the basement, far from their actual spaces of work which they need to get back to every hour. The inconvenient spacing of these break rooms, unlike the considerate accommodations students and teachers often receive, forces them to remain in the bathrooms no matter the situation. During our conversation, my classmate referred to an incident where she saw one of the akkas resting because she had a cold—by lying down on the bathroom floor.

These images, as I reflected on them, reminded me of a Dalit child made to sit on the floor while their upper-caste peers peered down at them from their benches. Space was made for individuals based on their caste. While the bathroom space of rest is not enforced the same as untouchability in schools, its logic of space has trickled down into urban institutions and spaces years after the abolition of untouchability through Article 17 in 1950.

Most of the individuals working in sanitation, and cleaning belong to the Dalit community, owing to their historic oppression and social exclusion that suppressed them into spheres of work deemed undignified or polluting for the upper class. The most adverse form of this reflected in India is manual scavenging. The workers are defined by The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 as those “engaged or employed by an individual or a local authority or an agency or a contractor for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing off, or otherwise handling in any manner human excreta…”

Despite the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, the Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA) estimates around 1,726 worker deaths from manual scavenging since the 2013 law. The law has not prevented the continued employment of Indian citizens in such undignified jobs based on their caste. Their systematic exclusion from higher education, and jobs beyond the brooms and mops, through threats of violence, denial and lack of pay forces them back into their caste-assigned jobs. The Safai Karamchari Andolan further estimates that among the 1.2 million sanitation workers in India, over 90% of them are Dalits.

While legally and in terms of overt oppression, workers in the housekeeping force may not be the same as manual scavengers, the occupation is a sanitised offspring of the same, which many individuals of the Dalit community are a part of owing to their historic social and economic exclusion.

The logic of a lack of spatial dignity in urban spaces for the cleaning staff contains an invisible residue of these exclusionary practices that has become normalised. This exclusion might not exist out of active caste discrimination—though it is an active practice in certain spaces. We see an institutional negligence that many spaces have arrived at that mimic the logic of a historical exclusion—here the basement and the bathroom. One must question if the normalisation of this historic exclusion has contributed to the lack of creation of dignified spaces of rest for these women. A room exists, but for whose dignity and convenience?

Now, not only has it been normalised in the minds of us privileged beneficiaries of their work, but it has also been systematically normalised in the minds of the victims through repeated practice.

A video circulating on Instagram, by the creator ‘Akash_swaroopa_,’ records him bringing in two of the housekeeping staff at a school to celebrate them. Two chairs have been set up for them at the front of the room but one of the women instinctively takes a seat on the floor before they are guided to the chairs. This instinct is a corporeal manifestation of the spatial trauma that has been ingrained into the daily lives of the workers.

These workers are often thanked and even celebrated with special days at universities and other spaces to acknowledge their work. However, that celebration of the individual becomes null and hypocritical when their work environment is undignified. No number of balloons and speeches of appreciation, while they are important, can substitute for chairs, or a convenient break room that restores dignity in everyday working conditions.

I, and others, often find ourselves touching bathroom doors with tissue paper and stepping carefully on the bathroom floor. Yet, the very spot that we are loathe to stand on is the very spot where these individuals, worthy of the break-spaces we receive, sit. It is a haunting thought to think as I sit on a cushioned chair in a Dalit Studies classroom, a few metres away from a woman who sits on the bathroom floor, just next to her disinfectants.

(The author is a Masters student of English Literature focusing on dalit studies, gender, culture and media studies based in Bangalore)

Related:

One Death Every Few Days, Zero Accountability: Sanitation workers protest at Jantar Mantar

Lucknow: Caste hierarchies & contract labour exploitation among sanitation workers

ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers and sanitation workers overlooked in India’s healthcare protection reforms

The post Sit Where We Stand: The segregated back rooms for sanitation staff in urban spaces appeared first on SabrangIndia.

What led to the violent disruption of the reading circle on August 27 at the AUDA Garden in Vastrapur this year? Was it just the two books – ‘I Am Malala’ and ‘Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl’ that provoked the violent mob led by the Bajrang Dal? Or was this part of a much larger pattern of violence in the Hindu version of Taliban where everything – from books, clothes, food, to films, comedy and protests – offends them?

More troubling is the role of a section of parents who brought in Bajrang Dal elements to “solve” their issues with the school management. Why would they willingly invite extremist hindutva elements into a school their wards studied in? While they sought to force changes in curriculum and administration, did these parents think that bringing in goons was the best way to do so?   

How it all started

The genesis of the reading circle was the decision of the Anand Niketan School, a private upmarket school in Ahmedabad to remove the books – the memoirs of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani education activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner and the diary of the German Jew and holocaust victim Anne Frank from its reading list after protests from a section of parents and right-wing groups.

But even before the books became the target of these parents and their rightwing supporters, a food safety issue at the school had pitted parents against the school administration. On August 12, a piece of glass was found in the canteen food, and the school authorities, rushed to get the student X-rayed to assure his parents that it was not swallowed.

The angry parents did not trust the report and soon the issue escalated. Other, unconfirmed reports said that a student had found worms in vegetables and   parents protested about eggs being cooked in the school canteen.

Target of Attack Shifted From Food to Books

The parents then chose to target a Muslim curriculum consultant who had been associated with the school for several years. They objected to the books ‘I Am Malala’ and ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’ being on the optional reading list. According to reports, some parents called Bajrang Dal members to fight the school administration on their behalf and on Aug 14, a mob led by Bajrang Dal leader Hiren Rabari climbed the gate and the boundary wall of the school to demand the removal of the books from the curriculum.

The issue snowballed from then on and the school administration decided to remove the books as well as terminate the contract of the consultant.

A young businessman in the city found the controversy over the books troubling and wanted to organise a silent reading in protest. He reached out to core members of the Students and Youth Collective (SYCA), Ahmedabad, and the collective co-organised the reading.

Violent Disruption of a Peaceful Reading

 The reading went on peacefully from 4 p.m. to about 6:15 p.m. at a park near the DEO office in Vastrapur. Around 6:30, as the group was dispersing, about 40 men entered the park shouting “Jai Shree Ram” and carrying thick wooden sticks, metal rods and baseball bats. Some wore saffron scarves. They had left more sticks outside the park, near the entrance.

Their body language was aggressive from the start, and the first thing they objected to was I Am Malala, though we also had books on Sardar Patel, Gandhi, Nehru and Ambedkar. They shouted, “Kya bola tha Malala ne Kashmir ke baare mein?” and “Usko padhne wale desh drohi hain.”

I was standing a little behind the group, filming. Two of them were staring at me, and I asked, “Kya hai, ghoor kyun rahe ho?” They said, “Tujhe dikkat hai to bahar chali ja, humein jo karna hai hum karenge.” Another said, “Zyada bolegi to pakad lo isko.” A second woman who was recording was told, “Kal tak gayab kar denge tujhe.” The man who appeared to be leading the mob gave his name: Hiren Rabari.

I could see this would turn violent quickly. A call was made to the police helpline. Some people tried to sit the men down and talk calmly, but they had no interest in a dialogue. To buy time, some of the readers began singing the national anthem; the attackers objected to that too, claiming one person’s shoulders had moved and that this was disrespect!

Then they began pushing and beating people. They shouted, “Inke pant utar ke check karo ye Musalman hai ki nahin.” Two or three ran towards the gate and tried to shut it so no one could come in to help. I ran over and stood there so they could not, shouting, “Aapki private property nahi hai ye, jo darwaza band kar sakte ho.”

By then, they were chasing people down the street in separate groups. It was about 7 p.m., peak office hours, and the street was full of people walking and riding two-wheelers. Residents of Casa Vyoma, the society directly opposite the park, were also watching.

Despite telling the police that the mob had assembled in large numbers, only two policemen arrived in a van — one in uniform, the driver in casuals. When the officer in uniform tried to stop the assault, the attackers beat him too, in front of everyone. No one watching said or did anything.

A man came up asking questions, giving the impression that he might be able to help. In my panic, I told him we had been reading books silently and that Bajrang Dal goons had come and started hitting us. He immediately began shouting, “Aeee, gunda kisko bola?” I said, “Jo dande leke aayega aur pitai karega wo gunda hi hai,” and he turned aggressive himself, advancing on me and repeating the question multiple times.

Another woman was hit with a stick. I saw that a friend was being beaten and ran towards him. By then, the police officer was panicking and instructing us to get into the van. We tried, but the attackers kept pulling my friends back out and slapping them. Both policemen looked badly shaken. “Kaise bhi jaldi baitho van mein, hum tumhe police station le ja rahe hain. Yahan ruke to ye log tumhe maar dalenge,” they said.

We reached Vastrapur police station. Others arrived with the books, and with sticks left behind in the park to show both the range of what we had been reading and the weapons used. We gathered in one room and began explaining the sequence of events. The PI, G M Chaudhary, spoke to us but did not pay attention to the details.

She watched some of the videos we had taken and asked the writer to record our statement, who wrote a single summary paragraph that left out everything specific. Seeing this, we said we would give a written complaint instead of an oral one. Some lawyers and senior activists had reached the station by then. We went over the draft several times, since each detail could determine a corresponding criminal charge.

We gave Hiren Rabari’s name. We had also identified some other attackers by matching our videos to their Instagram accounts — after Bajrang Dal Gujarat’s official account posted a video of the attack, boasting that they had taught us a lesson in their own language. The algorithm began pushing similar accounts to us, and we identified another attacker as Jimit Rabari.

The police brought three young attackers to the station, and they sat in the same space as us, quite casually. Soon, more of them began arriving, as though they were sitting in a park. It was very intimidating and triggering. We recognised at least 20 to 25 of their faces from the park. Two or three senior Bajrang Dal men came to the station and spoke to the PI for a long time behind a closed door.

Unlike the businessman, who had protested for the first time in his life, perhaps the rest of us did not look gullible. The PI shrewdly took him aside, recorded his statement — which again left out crucial details from our written complaint — and persuaded him to sign it. The rest of us, the primary complainants, witnesses and informants, were left out of the FIR process without our consent.

The PI kept saying she would match the details later, that she needed to eat, that she wanted to go home. We left the station at 2:15 a.m. The FIR, without the details we had been promised, was uploaded at 3 a.m., and, based on the messages we received in response, all three of those arrested were released at the same time.

No arrests, no further police action against the mob

There have been no arrests since. We filed an additional complaint setting out the differences between our written complaint and the FIR, had it inwarded from the DCP office and met the DCP Harshadkumar Patel, who said action would be taken within a week. Nothing followed. We were attacked on 27th August. On 31st, we held a press conference demanding the arrest of the two primary accused, Hiren Rabari and Jimit Rabari, within 72 hours; a ban on Bajrang Dal in Gujarat and across India; and a response and apology from Home Minister Harsh Sanghvi for failing to protect us and to deliver justice.

Twenty days on, we are still waiting. We hold responsible not only Bajrang Dal, the state government and the police — for a grave violation of our safety, for rioting, and inciting religious violence — but also the section of Anand Niketan parents and the people on the street, who have let Gujarat become a factory of hate and crime over the decades. These elements have given complete impunity to state-sponsored terrorism and culture wars.

These are the people who countenance violence against Muslims and Dalits every Navratri, or behave with cowardice and hypocrisy even when their own friends are attacked by saffron-clad men. These are the Brahmin and Jain men who eat meat in private while the administrators of their children’s school claim “all the students are strictly vegetarian.” They laugh at cheap jokes on caste, gender and class. They laugh at pronouns and the Palestinian flag and blame reservation for everything.

However, there is a pushback. The reading circle itself had emerged as a coming together of two groups -one led by students and the other, by working professionals – who were undoubtedly part of privileged castes and classes and would have been otherwise invested in the status quo of a post-2002 pogrom model of a “rising” Gujarat.

What follows now is a contest between the collusion of these elite hate mongers and the persistence of not-so-privileged young people who refuse to be cowed by political and social violence. We won’t be silenced!

*(The writer, who prefers to remain anonymous, was a participant in the reading circle and a witness to the violent mob’s disruption of it.)

Courtesy: Free Speech Collective

The post Anatomy of a Censoring Mob Threatened by Book Reading in Public appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The first reports of children falling ill emerged in the early phase of the crisis, with fever, rashes and other symptoms being reported from the tribal belt. The official account initially placed the number of deaths far below the figures subsequently reported by villagers and local representatives. According to Dainik Bhaskar, the government initially reported eight deaths, while the toll later rose through figures of 19, 22, 24 and 27. By September, Congress leaders were citing 30 deaths and media reports had placed the number at 31, although the administration had not released a final official figure.

Scroll, in its September 4 report, said that at least 25 Baiga and Gond children had died since May and reported that a suspected measles-malaria outbreak had remained undetected for two months in remote Adivasi habitations because of the absence of an adequate healthcare system. The report brought into sharp focus what villagers had been saying: that the crisis was not merely about an infectious disease, but about how little access these communities had to functioning public healthcare in the first place.

The Press Club of India strongly condemns the suspension of the Instagram accounts of three independent journalists following their ground reporting from Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh, on a public health crisis involving the deaths of children from the Adivasi community. pic.twitter.com/3lcjVXcbEd

— Press Club of India (@PCITweets) September 8, 2026

The deaths cannot be reduced to a single disease

The investigations have identified measles, malaria and, in some cases, possible measles-malaria co-infection. Children were also found suffering from dehydration, anaemia, respiratory complications and severe malnutrition. Officials have said that different children presented with different clinical conditions and that no single disease has been established as the cause of every reported death. Some children reportedly died at home or before reaching a healthcare facility, leaving investigators without medical records or diagnostic samples in several cases. A retrospective case-by-case review, including verbal autopsies, is consequently being undertaken.

But the absence of a single pathogen does not make the crisis any less serious. In fact, the health data emerging from the region points towards a much deeper structural failure. A Central government screening exercise covered 32,433 people. It identified 7,711 children with severe acute malnutrition, of whom 518 required admission to Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres. Another 13,406 children were treated for diarrhoea and 274 for severe pneumonia. Since July, 431 children had reportedly been admitted to hospitals, with 52 still undergoing treatment at the time of the report.

These figures make it difficult to view the deaths simply as an isolated outbreak. They reveal communities in which infectious disease, malnutrition, unsafe or inadequate water, poor sanitation and delayed access to medical treatment are interacting with one another.

Balaghat was not an unexpected health-risk zone

The crisis also did not emerge in an epidemiological vacuum. Balaghat has been identified as a major malaria hotspot. According to the health data, of the 2,126 malaria cases reported in Madhya Pradesh in 2025, 685 came from Balaghat. By July 2026, the district had already recorded 174 of the State’s 583 reported malaria cases.

The question, therefore, is not simply why children contracted malaria, measles or other infections. It is why children living in communities already known to face severe deprivation were allowed to reach such critical levels of illness before an adequate response was mounted.

That question becomes more pointed when viewed against the Union government’s own welfare architecture. The Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan, or PM-JANMAN, was created specifically to improve the socio-economic conditions of PVTG communities. The scheme carries an outlay of ₹24,104 crore over three years and includes interventions intended to address basic services and infrastructure in PVTG habitations. Yet a Parliamentary Standing Committee, as reported by The Hindu, subsequently questioned why there were still no clear answers about the causes of the deaths months after the first cases had appeared.

The contradiction is difficult to ignore: government schemes may report near-complete sanctions and high aggregate levels of “saturation”, but the reality on the ground was children falling severely ill in settlements where access to basic healthcare remained precarious.

The protests exposed what official figures did not

As the number of deaths became increasingly contested, anger grew in the affected communities. One of the most disturbing allegations concerned the death of four-year-old Luvkush in Baigatola. Villagers alleged that the administration arranged his cremation without a post-mortem while his parents were away in Hyderabad looking for work. The allegation was followed by villagers blocking the Balaghat-Baihar road. The protests were not simply expressions of grief. They were also demands for recognition, accountability and answers.

The issue deepened when the administration issued an order restricting photography and media coverage in hospitals. The order was withdrawn within hours following protests, as per Scroll. The Collector subsequently clarified that it had been issued in haste and was intended to prevent demonstrations rather than restrict media coverage. But in a crisis already marked by conflicting death figures and allegations that cases were not being adequately recorded, even a short-lived attempt to restrict what could be documented inevitably raised questions about transparency.

There was another serious institutional controversy. According to The Hindu, then Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr Paresh Uplab continued to describe the illnesses as seasonal ailments even as the reported death toll had risen substantially. He was subsequently removed, with Dr Manoj Pandey taking charge, followed later by Dr Shatrughan Singh Dahiya.

The issue, therefore, was no longer simply whether the children had died from measles, malaria, malnutrition or a combination of conditions. It was also whether the State had accurately recognised the crisis while it was unfolding.

The State’s response came in stages

The government has since substantially expanded its response. The 50-bed paediatric facility at the district hospital was expanded to 150 beds, while a Covid ward was temporarily converted into a paediatric ward. Mobile Medical Units were deployed in Birsa and Baihar to provide fever screening, outpatient consultations, maternal and child healthcare, tuberculosis and non-communicable disease screening, medicines and primary diagnosis in remote areas.

According to the Dainik Bhasker report, more than 600 drinking-water sources were purified, insecticide spraying was carried out in 4,338 households and fogging was undertaken in affected and adjoining areas. More than 14,000 children aged between one and ten received an additional Measles-Rubella vaccine dose.

The government also expanded surveillance to around 50 villages, increased sanitation interventions and strengthened treatment and referral arrangements. As reported by The Sun Today, the Chief Minister visited Balaghat on August 30, met affected families and announced ₹2 lakh assistance for each family of a deceased child. The government also announced a ₹225-crore development plan covering 100 villages formerly affected by Naxal activity.

These interventions are necessary. But they also raise an uncomfortable question: why did many of these measures become visible only after the deaths, protests and national attention?

Parliament asks the question the villages had already been asking

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment questioned representatives of the Tribal Affairs Ministry, the Jal Shakti Ministry and the Department of Telecommunications about the Balaghat deaths, The Hindu reported. Members asked why, months after the first cases, there were still no clear answers regarding the causes of death. The Committee also questioned the implementation of PM-JANMAN and sought village-wise saturation data rather than aggregate figures.

A scheme cannot be considered successful merely because projects have been sanctioned on paper. A health intervention cannot be judged by the number of mobile units deployed after an outbreak. And a welfare programme cannot be called saturated while children in the communities it targets remain severely malnourished and struggle to reach medical care.

Political intervention followed public outrage

The Opposition also intervened. Times of India reported that Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi described reports of 30 tribal children dying in Balaghat as extremely concerning and distressing, and called on Chief Minister Mohan Yadav to ensure immediate investigation, treatment and relief. Madhya Pradesh Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar separately wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a high-level medical inquiry and questioning how children could die from illnesses that may be treatable with timely intervention.

LoP @RahulGandhi Ji Writes- “बालाघाट, मध्य प्रदेश में 30 आदिवासी बच्चों की मौत की खबर बेहद चिंताजनक और पीड़ादायक है। इस घातक बीमारी के साथ पीने के पानी, पोषण, और समय पर इलाज जैसी बुनियादी सुविधाओं का अभाव बच्चों की जान ले रहा है।

ये सरकार की पूर्ण विफलता है। मुख्यमंत्री स्वयं… https://t.co/dUc5of2PSl pic.twitter.com/hrAlC0J2wD

— Mumbai Congress (@INCMumbai) September 5, 2026

बालाघाट, मध्य प्रदेश में 30 आदिवासी बच्चों की मृत्यु की खबर बेहद चिंताजनक और पीड़ादायक है।

इस घातक बीमारी के साथ पीने के पानी, पोषण, और समय पर इलाज जैसी बुनियादी सुविधाओं का अभाव बच्चों की जान ले रहा है।

ये सरकार की पूर्ण विफलता है। मुख्यमंत्री स्वयं इसका समाधान करें और क्षेत्र… pic.twitter.com/1fkfehcdnN

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 5, 2026

Recently, Cockroach Janata Party founder Abhijit Dipke also visited Balaghat.

I’m on my way to Balaghat, MP, where 30 Tribal children have died.

I’ve received information from one of the Tribal activists that MP Police is now moving to detain some of the Tribal students coordinating my visit.

Why is it always a BJP-ruled state that seems so afraid of the…

— Abhijeet Dipke (@abhijeet_dipke) September 11, 2026

The Gondwana Gantantra Party went further, giving the administration 15 days to provide ₹50 lakh compensation to the family of every deceased child and demanding a CBI investigation. These interventions have ensured that the deaths cannot simply disappear into the administrative language of “seasonal illness”, “surveillance” or “ongoing investigation”.

The High Court steps in

The Madhya Pradesh High Court sought a response from the State government on a public interest litigation concerning the deaths of more than 30 tribal children. As reported by LiveLaw, the petition alleged inadequate medical care and pointed to around 400 children being treated in a facility that initially had only 50 beds. The petition was filed after media reports brought the deaths to public attention.

The Court initially directed the petitioner to personally visit the affected areas and verify the claims rather than proceed solely on newspaper reports. After the petitioner submitted a ground report, the Court issued notices to the State Health Department, Women and Child Development Department, the Balaghat Collector and other authorities. The ground report alleged that handpumps in affected areas were producing yellow-coloured water, that children and women had not received nutritious food on time for months, and that poor sanitation was contributing to infections. It further alleged that significant administrative action followed only after the number of deaths had crossed 30.

What does Balaghat reveal?

The most disturbing feature of the Balaghat crisis may ultimately be that none of its individual components is entirely new. Malaria was already a known problem. Malnutrition was already present. The affected communities were already among India’s most vulnerable tribal populations. Remote settlements already faced difficulties accessing healthcare. Yet the crisis escalated to the point where dozens of children were reported dead and hundreds became ill before the State response reached the scale now being described.

Whether the final death toll is 25, 30 or another number, whether individual deaths are ultimately attributed to malaria, measles, malnutrition, respiratory complications or combinations of these, the underlying failures remain visible: severe malnutrition, inadequate healthcare access, sanitation concerns, difficulties with transportation and referral, questions around drinking water, delayed detection and serious disagreement between communities and the administration over the scale of the crisis.

The tragedy in Balaghat is therefore not only about how these children died. It is about how long they were allowed to remain vulnerable before the State responded with urgency.

Related:

Satya Niketan Collapse: When students and neighbours had to rescue students from a system that had failed them

‘Forum for Electoral Integrity’ petitions NHRC over mass voter disenfranchisement under SIR

‘Forum for Electoral Integrity’ petitions NHRC over mass voter disenfranchisement under SIR

Beaten to Death Outside His Own Home: What Delhi owes Chongtham Vikram Singh

Midnight Arrest, Daylight Questions: Why was Santosh Pandit taken into custody?

The post Deaths, Denials and Delayed Action: The Balaghat crisis appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The violence did not end on the street. Singh was allegedly chased towards his third-floor residence and attacked again. His family heard him screaming. When his son opened the door, he reportedly found several men kicking and punching his father. Singh was eventually taken to hospital with severe injuries. He died the following morning.

A Manipuri music teacher, Chongtham Vikram Singh, living in Delhi’s Ashram area was mob lynched by 8 people following a dispute over alleged noise and nuisance outside his residence.

Police said seven accused have been arrested and a minor detained in connection with the case.… pic.twitter.com/4V0LVeVLiJ

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) September 7, 2026

Delhi, India. A music teacher from Manipur beaten to death at Kilokari under Sunlight colony police station, South Delhi. Chongtham Vikram has been residing in the area for atleast 10years in the area. He objected to loud noises and nuisance created in front of his house. What… pic.twitter.com/CJm0P5ZFAy

— huidrom athouba (@HuidromAthouba) September 7, 2026

The police have arrested seven adults and apprehended a juvenile. The FIR invokes Section 103(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita along with Section 3(5). Section 103(2) is particularly significant because it concerns group murder where specified identity-based grounds are alleged.

Singh was a Meitei from Manipur living in Delhi. Northeast community organisations have specifically demanded that the possibility of identity-based targeting be investigated. The North East Media Forum, while acknowledging that the motive remains under investigation, called for any possibility of racial or identity-based targeting to be thoroughly examined, pointing to continuing concerns over discrimination and intimidation faced by people from the Northeast.

According to The Hindu, Singh’s son told police that his father had mentioned being threatened by people associated with the nearby dhaba after earlier complaints about excessive noise. If established, that would make the incident considerably more serious than a spontaneous altercation: it would raise questions about a pattern of intimidation that preceded the fatal assault.

Arrests are not accountability

There is an uncomfortable history behind the reactions from Northeast communities. People from the Northeast living in Delhi have repeatedly spoken about racial stereotyping, slurs, discrimination and violence. That history is precisely why the killing of a Manipuri man inside the national capital cannot be understood only through the immediate trigger alleged by the police.

The Delhi Police have arrested the accused and the administration has promised lawful action. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju has said that a strong chargesheet will be filed within two weeks. The Indian Express reported that CCTV recordings captured the accused leaving the building after the assault and, around ten minutes later, Singh’s family carrying him towards hospital.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge described the killing as a “chilling reminder” of what he called “utter lawlessness” under the BJP government. Congress leader and Leader of Opposition, Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi asked what Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s Ministry of Home Affairs and the Delhi Police were doing to stop what he described as growing lawlessness, particularly against people from the Northeast. Arvind Kejriwal also condemned the killing, while Manipur MP Bimol Akoijam demanded exemplary punishment.

Chongtham Vikram Singh ji, a renowned musician from Manipur, went downstairs to ask some men to lower the noise outside his home. He was beaten to death for it.

A father, killed outside his own home, in his own country’s capital. After many such incidents, every Northeast family…

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 8, 2026

The merciless lynching of Chongtham Vikram Singh ji, a well-known musician from Manipur, by a mob is yet another chilling reminder of the utter lawlessness under the BJP.

Students are unsafe. Women face atrocities every day. People from Northeast India face discrimination.… pic.twitter.com/uGfjNCYvbn

— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) September 8, 2026

The senseless murder of renowned musician from Manipur, Chongtham Vikram Singh ji, in the heart of Delhi is a national shame. He was brutally beaten and murdered only for asking some people to make less noise.

Is this what it’s come to? Is there no safety for a young father…

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) September 8, 2026

The streets are already asking the question

People gathered outside Sunlight Colony Police Station demanding justice. A candlelight march was held. Northeast student and community organisations condemned the killing. These protests are not simply demands for punishment after a murder. They reflect a deeper anxiety: if a person can be attacked outside his own home after objecting to a disturbance, what protection does an ordinary Northeast resident actually have?

The North East Students’ Society at Delhi University and the North East Media Forum have both demanded a serious and impartial investigation. Their insistence that identity-based targeting be examined is important precisely because the burden of proving whether prejudice played a role lies with the investigation—not with the victim’s community.

A Manipuri (Meitei) music teacher Chongtham Vikram was beaten to death yesterday by at least 6-7 men in Ashram, New Delhi.

The men, allegedly drunk, came to his house and beat him to death after he objected to them over making noise at the night at the dhaba just opposite his… pic.twitter.com/c97JkpC9BV

— Meitei Heritage Society (@meiteiheritage) September 7, 2026

Who was Chongtham Vikram Singh?

Chongtham Vikram Singh was a guitarist associated with Manipur’s early rock music movement, having performed with bands including Ultra Vires, Phoenix and Eastern Dark. He had spent years teaching music in Delhi and had built a life there. He was the son of celebrated Manipuri singer Chongtham Kamala, associated with Matamgi Manipur, widely regarded as the first Manipuri feature film. His cousin Lakshmipriya Devi directed Boong, the first Indian film to win a BAFTA. For nearly 17 years, Delhi was his home.

Related:

Days of Demands, Hours of Protest: Swatantra Bhardwaj finally detained in assault case

Pune’s DJ Controversy, Ganeshotsav and Assault: The politics of who gets to make noise

The Normalisation of Suicide at IITs: Institutional blindness and failure

Two women journalists allege police assault after questioning Delhi CM, say attack intensified after police heard they were Muslim

The post Beaten to Death Outside His Own Home: What Delhi owes Chongtham Vikram Singh appeared first on SabrangIndia.

And when it came down, another fact became impossible to ignore: the people who were closest to the disaster became the first line of rescue, while the state institutions took 2 hours to provide “relief”. The accounts coming out through media outlets show residents, students and student volunteers scrambling over dangerous debris, pulling out bricks and concrete with their bare hands, arranging oxygen cylinders and water, clearing access routes and helping professional rescue teams locate survivors. That is not merely a story of community courage. It is also a deeply uncomfortable question about the State’s preparedness.

The first rescuers were the people who lived there

The most powerful images emerging from Satya Niketan are not of politicians arriving at the site. They are of ordinary people entering the rubble before they knew whether the adjoining structure might also collapse. As The Times of India reported, electrician Md Ishtiyaq and other local residents climbed onto the debris almost immediately after the building came down. There was fear that the neighbouring structure could collapse too. They went in anyway. Ishtiyaq borrowed a hammer from a nearby shop and used it to break a PVC pipe trapping a student’s leg. Around him, residents and students began improvising a rescue operation. Human chains were formed to move debris. Chunks of walls, concrete and iron rods were removed by hand.

The Indian Express reported that residents formed a human chain within minutes. Bricks, stone slabs, broken chairs, pillows and mattresses were pulled away so that trapped students could be located. Residents moved vehicles obstructing access and helped create space for rescue machinery. A former DU law student who lived in the building two years earlier told the newspaper that during the first hour, those who came forward to help were “mostly residents of the area”. The narrow lanes of Satya Niketan made the situation even more difficult. The very urban density that had made the locality attractive to students also made it difficult to bring heavy rescue equipment close to the collapsed structure. Yet the residents did what they could with what they had.

NSUI volunteers were not spectators — they were in the rubble

The role played by student volunteers deserves to be recorded with the same seriousness as the official rescue operation. The Times of India reported that DU students and NSUI volunteers Hariom Sisodiya and Pawan Thakur rushed to the site after receiving a call that a friend might have been inside the PG. They spent almost two hours removing bricks, pipes, rods, plaster and concrete. Their hands were scratched and bloodied from the debris. Their efforts, according to the report, helped rescue three people.

The The Hindu account records Krishna Bhardwaj, a DUSU campaigner, arriving with around 25–30 members of his team. He recalled pulling students from the rubble before police and fire personnel had fully taken over the rescue operation. He also described hearing a student pleading to be saved, only to later learn that the student had died.

The student volunteers did not know who was trapped beneath the rubble. They did not know whether the debris above them would shift. They went in because somebody had to.

सत्य निकेतन में छात्रों के साथ हुई त्रासदी और पीड़ित परिवारों को न्याय दिलाने की मांग को लेकर NSUI का धरना लगातार जारी है।

आज दिल्ली प्रदेश कांग्रेस कमेटी के अध्यक्ष श्री @devendrayadvinc जी NSUI द्वारा चलाए जा रहे धरने में पहुंचे और धरने पर बैठे।

इस दौरान NSUI के राष्ट्रीय… pic.twitter.com/cchD0OUXsz

— NSUI (@nsui) September 7, 2026

ये है बीजेपी की संवेदनहीनता का असली चेहरा!

सत्य निकेतन हादसे के मलबे से छात्रों को निकालने में लगे NSUI कार्यकर्ताओं को मदद करने से रोकने वाले ये बीजेपी नेता सिर्फ़ राजनीति और अड़ंगेबाज़ी करना जानते हैं।

इस बेशर्म हरकत के लिए बीजेपी को छात्रो से माफ़ी मांगनी चाहिए। pic.twitter.com/rE9LEnZemT

— NSUI (@nsui) September 8, 2026

सत्य निकेतन त्रासदी के बाद भी विश्वविद्यालय प्रशासन की संवेदनहीनता जारी है।

NSUI ने आज वाइस चांसलर के खिलाफ प्रदर्शन कर जवाबदेही तय करने की मांग उठाई। तीन दिन पहले छात्रों की मौत हुई है, लेकिन वाइस चांसलर पीड़ितों और छात्रों के सवालों का जवाब देने के बजाय कार्यक्रमों में व्यस्त… pic.twitter.com/sHm4BgrBMw

— NSUI (@nsui) September 8, 2026

रेस्क्यू में देरी, मीडिया पर पाबंदी और अब राहत के लिए टेंट लगाने से भी रोक!

प्रशासन अपनी नाकामी छुपाने के लिए हर संभव कोशिश कर रहा है, लेकिन NSUI छात्रों की आवाज़ दबने नहीं देगी और हर जरूरतमंद तक मदद पहुँचाने के लिए डटी रहेगी। pic.twitter.com/X8AqRLv1CI

— NSUI (@nsui) September 7, 2026

दिल्ली जैसे देश की राजधानी में घंटों बाद भी छात्रों को रेस्क्यू न कर पाना सरकार और प्रशासन की पूरी तरह विफलता है। न डिजास्टर प्लान, न पर्याप्त उपकरण, न सक्षम टीम और न कोई जवाबदेही!

हम मांग करते हैं—दोषियों पर सख्त कार्रवाई हो, मृतक छात्रों के परिवारों को मुआवजा मिले, घायलों का…

— NSUI (@nsui) September 7, 2026

The neighbourhood became a rescue infrastructure of its own

The community response did not end with pulling people out. According to The Times of India, local residents arranged water and refreshments for rescue workers through the night. A student volunteer, Gulaab, stayed at the site and helped control the crowd so that rescue personnel could work. By Monday, NSS cadres and students from nearby colleges arrived carrying biscuits, water, soft drinks and medical supplies.

ANI also reported something that is almost surreal in a city with an enormous disaster-response apparatus: local residents ordered oxygen cylinders through a quick-commerce application to assist people trapped under the debris. This is the kind of detail that should not be buried beneath official statements about “war footing”.

Because it raises a simple question: Why were ordinary residents having to improvise life-saving infrastructure at a disaster site?

There is, of course, an official account of the response. Police said a PCR call was received at approximately 1.34 pm and that Delhi Police, NDRF, Delhi Fire Service, DDMA and ambulances were deployed. NDRF officials have also said their teams reached the site soon after being alerted and began rescue operations. However, that official account exists alongside something that cannot simply be dismissed: repeated eyewitness accounts describing a slower response.

Times Now reported residents alleging that police and NDRF personnel were absent for nearly two hours. Another resident described the rescue operation as extremely slow. DU students Ankit Tiwari and Shivam Sharma said they helped residents remove debris and alleged that officials arrived more than an hour after the first call for help.

For some families, the rescue itself became another source of anguish

The story of Aditya makes the question of rescue time even more disturbing. According to the report carried by Rediff and PTI, Aditya had moved into the PG only four days before the collapse. After the building came down, he managed to call his family and tell them that he was trapped beneath the debris and that his phone battery was running out. He remained conscious and was able to communicate. His father later questioned why it took nearly four hours to bring him out.

Aditya survived and is being treated at AIIMS. However, while waiting, he recorded a video from beneath the debris. The footage showed the claustrophobic space in which he and another injured student were trapped. His father’s question is devastating precisely because it is so simple: if a conscious student could call for help, why did it take so long to reach him?

But the collapse did not begin on September 6

The most dangerous way to understand Satya Niketan would be to treat the collapse as an unpredictable accident. The reports collected in the file point to warning signs that existed well before Sunday afternoon. An MCD official told the media that the collapsed structure was a G+4 building on a roughly 55-square-yard plot where permission existed only for a G+1 structure. It was nevertheless being used as a student PG.

The adjoining girls’ PG was subsequently evac­uated and sealed after being found to be in a dilapidated condition. That immediately raises the question that cannot be avoided: If a building was allegedly four floors beyond what was permitted, how did it continue operating as a student accommodation in one of Delhi’s most prominent university neighbourhoods?

The responsibility cannot automatically stop with the property owner. The owner may face criminal liability if the investigation establishes wrongdoing. However, an unauthorised or unsafe building does not become invisible simply because a private person owns it. A building does not exist outside the reach of regulation. It requires approvals, must comply with prescribed building norms, and remains subject to inspection and enforcement by the authorities. Where a building is being used to accommodate dozens of students, safety standards become even more critical.

That makes the question of responsibility far bigger than simply asking who constructed the unauthorised floors. The real questions are: Who was responsible for monitoring the building? Who was supposed to inspect it? Were inspections actually carried out? If violations were visible, why was no timely action taken? Were notices issued, and if so, what happened afterwards? Why was the building not sealed or its use stopped? Most importantly, how was it allowed to remain occupied despite the risks?

The collapse, therefore, cannot be reduced to an act of unauthorised construction alone. It also demands scrutiny of the regulatory and enforcement machinery that was supposed to prevent precisely such a disaster.

Repair or construction work in the basement is another major line of investigation. Police said repair work was underway when the collapse occurred. Residents also reported basement work and water accumulation. The Chief Minister said preliminary information indicated that excavation in the basement may have caused a pillar to shift. MCD, however, has said the precise nature of the work cannot be established until the debris is cleared.

Residents told Times Now that they had warned the owners and workers about the condition of the building and the basement work. This is how preventable disasters happen: not necessarily because nobody saw the danger, but because danger becomes normalised.

Satya Niketan was built into a student-housing crisis

There is another uncomfortable truth here. Students did not simply choose Satya Niketan because private PGs were attractive. They went there because they needed somewhere to live. The Indian Express reported that Delhi University has more than 2.5 lakh students but only around 9,000 hostel beds, with hostel accommodation disproportionately available to postgraduate students. The result is that thousands of students, particularly those coming from outside Delhi, are pushed into private PGs and rental accommodation in neighbourhoods such as Satya Niketan and Mukherjee Nagar.

The question is not simply why students rented an unsafe building. The question is why a university that draws students from across the country does not have enough safe accommodation for them. The Delhi High Court put the issue far more directly.

As reported by The Telegraph, the Court questioned not only the role of the building owner and MCD but also the absence of adequate hostel facilities for outstation students. It directed the MCD to examine whether PG buildings had valid permissions and whether building laws had been violated, and asked DU to provide details of its outstation students and hostel capacity. The Court’s message was blunt: the government cannot escape responsibility.

The administrative response has now begun to look familiar. The MCD’s own pre-monsoon survey is now under scrutiny. According to The Hindu, the civic body had surveyed nearly 28 lakh of around 32.5 lakh properties identified for inspection by late June, but classified only 19 as dangerous and 74 as requiring immediate repairs. It remains unclear whether the Satya Niketan building had been inspected during that exercise.

What makes Satya Niketan different is the student unity emerging from the rubble

By Monday, September 7, the collapse had become the centre of a much larger student mobilisation across Delhi. AISA, SFI, NSUI and ABVP — organisations that occupy very different political and ideological spaces — took to the streets separately, but with strikingly overlapping demands: accountability for the deaths, safety audits of student accommodation, action against illegal construction and, above all, an end to the dependence on unsafe private PGs because universities have failed to provide enough hostels. The Telegraph, reporting on the protests, described the mobilisation as a response to both the deaths and the wider shortage of safe and affordable student housing.

AISA calls it an “avoidable disaster”: The All India Students’ Association has been among the most forceful in connecting the collapse to the larger failure of student infrastructure. AISA described the incident as an “avoidable disaster” and demanded strict action against those responsible as well as accountability from the Delhi government. Crucially, it also challenged the narrative that this was simply the consequence of one negligent property owner.

AISA pointed to the shortage of affordable hostels at Delhi University and argued that students are effectively pushed into expensive private PGs and rental accommodation because the university has failed to provide alternatives. It also alleged that police and JCB machinery reached the site around two hours late — a claim that must be independently investigated against official response records, but which has now become a significant part of the protest narrative. Instead of asking only, “Who owned this building?”, AISA is asking why students had to live in such buildings in the first place.

What is happening in Delhi?

IN THE LAST 48 HOURS:

7 students killed in Satya Niketan.

A South Campus gardener electrocuted to death.

Chongtham Vikram Singh, renowned guitarist and music teacher from Manipur, beaten to death.@AmitShah @gupta_rekha, 48 hours of horror in the…

— Neha (@neha_aisa) September 8, 2026

This isn’t about one building. From Satya Niketan to Vijay Nagar, Patel Chest to Gurmandi, Delhi’s hostel crisis feeds the PG mafia.

BJP controls Delhi top to bottom: Centre, Govt, LG, MCD, MPs, MLAs, Councillors. Yet hostels remain scarce. Why? Because PG mafia money flows…

— Neha (@neha_aisa) September 7, 2026

Satya Niketan was not just one incident.. it’s a pattern of negligence.

Student lives matter! pic.twitter.com/yTBUaDP0FM

— Neha (@neha_aisa) September 7, 2026

Students of DU, of Satys Niketan want Justice! Not an inch back till our demands are met! pic.twitter.com/OtbdTLeE80

— AISA (@aisa_official_) September 7, 2026

Satya Niketan rises against corrupt and incompetent DU Vice Chancellor, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, and PG Mafia! pic.twitter.com/GPFjuHcO7N

— AISA (@aisa_official_) September 7, 2026

SFI has taken the housing question directly to the streets: The Students’ Federation of India has similarly refused to treat Satya Niketan as an isolated accident. The SFI Delhi State Committee held a protest rally and candlelight vigil at Delhi University’s Arts Faculty, demanding hostels for all students, immediate safety audits of PGs and private accommodation, closure of unsafe buildings and a cap on rents in student residential areas.

Its demand goes even further: until adequate hostel infrastructure is created, the government should bear students’ accommodation costs. Students interviewed after the collapse told the media that they were paying between ₹12,000 and ₹15,000 for cramped double-sharing rooms, precisely because many colleges do not provide hostels. Another DU student told The Indian Express that the university has more than 2.5 lakh students but only around 9,000 hostel beds. So when SFI demands a rent cap and state-funded accommodation until hostels are available, it is responding to a material reality students are already living.

The system is broken . Another institutional murder in DU yesterday,when a worker died in the night. If not for the spontaneous mobilisation of students, the university wouldn’t even have taken accountability! pic.twitter.com/8hzcrvTw1i

— SFI Delhi (@SfiDelhi) September 8, 2026

Yes, we are angry. Yes, we are sad. But the movement shall not stop, the rage shall not recede. We shall remember the victims of the Satyaniketan building collapse in resistance. We shall fight the institutional apathy shown by DU and the BJP governments. pic.twitter.com/e7R43Ouqd9

— SFI Delhi (@SfiDelhi) September 8, 2026

Candle light vigil,in rage and remembering the victims of Satyaniketan building collapse. Never forget! Never forgive! pic.twitter.com/GR3yv5rrJa

— SFI Delhi (@SfiDelhi) September 7, 2026

NSUI is demanding hostels, inspections and closure of illegal PGs: NSUI has also taken the fight directly to the government and DU administration. NSUI president Vinod Jakhar alleged that no new hostel had been built for DU in the past decade, arguing that the shortage has forced students into private PGs where, in his words, safety guidelines are not followed.

The organisation has demanded new hostels within DU, inspections of all PG accommodations and the closure of illegally operated facilities. It has also called for regulation of rents in PGs and hostels. That demand exposes an obvious contradiction. The State cannot simultaneously fail to provide enough university accommodation, allow private housing to fill the vacuum, and then treat every unsafe PG as merely a private dispute between landlord and tenant.

NSUI Candle March

Satya Niketan pic.twitter.com/xv5XycFrs8

— NSUI (@nsui) September 7, 2026

एक तरफ सत्य निकेतन में छात्र बिल्डिंग गिरने के कारण दबकर मर जाते हैं और दूसरी तरफ देश के गृह मंत्री गोवा में BJP कार्यालय का फीता काटते हैं।

ये बहुत ही शर्मनाक है।

जिन प्राइवेट PG में छात्रों को रहने के लिए मजबूर किया जाता है, वहां कोई सुरक्षा गाइडलाइन फॉलो नहीं की जाती।

ऐसे…

— NSUI (@nsui) September 7, 2026

हमारी मांग:

⦿ दिल्ली यूनिवर्सिटी के अंदर छात्रों के लिए हॉस्टल बनाए जाएं
⦿ अवैध रूप से संचालित हॉस्टल और PG को बंद किया जाए
⦿ हॉस्टल और PGs के लिए rent control act बनाया जाए
⦿ CM रेखा गुप्ता हादसे की जिम्मेदारी लें और दोषियों पर एक्शन हो
⦿ सभी PGs की जांच कराई जाए, उचित…

— NSUI (@nsui) September 7, 2026

Cockroach Janta Party demands range from student safety to a wider indictment of the State: The response from the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has also sought to place the Satya Niketan collapse within a much larger crisis of student safety and public infrastructure. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the contradiction between political attention to universities and the condition in which students are actually being made to live. Referring to Modi’s visit to Delhi University shortly before the collapse, Dipke asked how students could be expected to pursue their education when even their hostels and classrooms could not be guaranteed to be safe. He demanded safe classrooms, functional hostels and basic dignity for students, asking pointedly how long students would be made to pay for failures in public infrastructure.

The CJP’s later response went beyond the immediate building and towards the system that allows unsafe student accommodation to proliferate. Its spokesperson Saurav Das described students as being left to “live like cockroaches” and alleged the existence of a wider “PG mafia” involving unregulated paying guest accommodation and political interests. These are allegations, not established findings, but they point to precisely the questions that any serious investigation must answer: who owns these properties, who authorises or tolerates their conversion into student housing, whether inspections actually take place, what happens to violations once they are detected, and whether officials are held accountable when unsafe structures continue to operate. The CJP has demanded a seven-point action plan including structural audits of student accommodations, disclosure of building records, a public database of safety certificates, accountability of officials and compensation of ₹1 crore to each bereaved family.

Delhi’s Satya Niketan does not have a double-engine or a triple-engine BJP sarkar. It has a TEN-ENGINE BJP sarkar!

And yet, the blame-game is on. Blame the Congress. Blame the AAP. If any lapses are found from previous governments, prosecute those responsible. But it just so… https://t.co/jiVqriEQRG

— Saurav Das (@SauravDassss) September 7, 2026

Delhi: On the Satya Niketan building collapse, Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) chief spokesperson Saurav Das says, “This is Delhi’s governance structure. The councillor is from BJP, the MLA is from BJP, the MP is from BJP, the Zone Chairman is from BJP, the Mayor is from BJP, the MCD… pic.twitter.com/wZfZiGHsti

— IANS (@ians_india) September 7, 2026

CJP’s seven demands.

Justice for Satya Niketan students. pic.twitter.com/WHmrBr4w3E

— Saurav Das (@SauravDassss) September 7, 2026

Dipke also framed the tragedy as a question of political priorities. As reported by The Hindu, he contrasted the construction of grand political establishments with the unsafe and inadequate infrastructure available to students, arguing that the government should prioritise safe educational institutions and hostels rather than political grandstanding.

Students are trapped under the debris, and locals are trying to rescue them with their bare hands.

Not a single person from the administration is in sight.

When every minute could save a life, where is the administration? And for how long this will continue to happen? https://t.co/BEL3RfCqR3

— Abhijeet Dipke (@abhijeet_dipke) September 6, 2026

ABVP is demanding officials answer for the collapse: ABVP, meanwhile, has taken its protest directly to the civic administration. The organisation held demonstrations and sit-ins across DU campuses and demanded accountability from the MCD, including the suspension/resignation of the MCD Commissioner. It has called for a high-level and impartial inquiry, action against negligent PG operators and building owners, action against officials responsible for enforcement failures, and immediate structural and safety audits of private accommodation in student-dominated areas.

ABVP’s protest also escalated at the MCD headquarters, where protesters entered the Civic Centre and the premises were subsequently reported to have been vandalised. That escalation should be recorded honestly; a legitimate demand for accountability does not make vandalism acceptable. At the same time, the underlying question raised by the protest remains entirely legitimate: how was an allegedly unauthorised G+4 building permitted to operate as a student PG?

The Opposition response: From condolences to the question of accountability

Opposition parties have increasingly moved beyond expressions of grief to attack what they describe as a systemic failure of governance. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called the collapse a “deeply distressing and avoidable tragedy”, arguing that students come to Delhi to build their futures, not to risk their lives merely to find a roof over their heads. Senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi similarly connected the deaths to the chronic shortage of university hostels, pointing out that students are pushed into private PGs where large numbers can end up living under one roof in what he described as inhumane conditions. He also said Congress and NSUI workers were present at the site and ready to assist affected students and their families.

.@narendramodi जी कल दिल्ली विश्वविद्यालय के SRCC में गए। यह देश के युवाओं, शिक्षा और उनके भविष्य पर संवाद का अवसर था। लेकिन अफसोस, युवाओं के सवालों का सामना करने के बजाय भाषण फिर एक राजनीतिक प्रचार में बदल गया।

मोदी जी की Modus Operandi —

लोकतंत्र में सवालों को दबाने के लिए…

— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) September 6, 2026

The building collapse in Delhi’s Satya Niketan is a deeply distressing and avoidable tragedy. Reports of DU students being trapped under the debris are extremely worrying.

Every effort must be made to rescue those trapped and ensure the best possible treatment for the injured.…

— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) September 6, 2026

दिल्ली के सत्य निकेतन में इमारत ढहने की खबर बेहद दर्दनाक और चिंताजनक है। कई लोगों के मलबे में दबे होने की खबर है, जिनमें दिल्ली यूनिवर्सिटी के कई छात्र भी शामिल हैं।

मेरी अपील है कि NDRF, दिल्ली फायर सर्विस और सभी बचाव दल हर संभव प्रयास करके हर एक छात्र तक पहुँचें, घायलों को… https://t.co/uQi7H8HPra

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 6, 2026

Rahul Gandhi’s response became sharper the following day. He accused the BJP government of following a recurring pattern in which there is little prevention before disasters, followed by political grandstanding and the shifting of responsibility onto lower-level officials after lives have already been lost. Referring to the Satya Niketan collapse alongside other recent disasters in Delhi, Gandhi argued that the absence of preventive action was itself a form of political failure. He also questioned the notion of a “triple-engine” government in Delhi, asking why such administrative alignment had not translated into basic safety for students. NDTV reported his central argument as one of “no accountability”, with Gandhi saying that where there is no political intent, there is no accountability either.

हर बार BJP सरकार का वही शर्मनाक पैटर्न – हादसों से पहले रोकथाम नहीं, उनके बाद बयानबाज़ी होती है, कुछ छोटे अफ़सरों पर ज़िम्मेदारी मढ़ दी जाती है, और असली गुनहगार जवाबदेही मुक्त रहते हैं।

सत्य निकेतन में छात्रों से भरी इमारत का गिरना कोई अकेली त्रासदी नहीं है। पिछले 4 महीनों में…

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 7, 2026

The criticism also came from within the wider Congress organisation. Delhi Congress chief Devendra Yadav asked why students arriving in the capital from across the country should have to live without any guarantee of safety, arguing that a Prime Minister’s speeches at Delhi University could not substitute for actual protection of students. Congress media department head Pawan Khera described the recovery of a copy of A Thousand Splendid Suns from the rubble as a symbol of a generation that, in his words, was being left without adequate guarantees of dignity, safety or a future. NSUI president Vinod Jakhar separately alleged that the administration arrived nearly two hours after the collapse and said NSUI workers had immediately attempted to pull students from the debris.

There isn’t a problem with the BJP’s capacity. There is a problem with its intentions. Victims are shamed while perpetrators are shielded.

And this culture of impunity is nourished from the very top.

A Prime Minister who evades accountability, lets people with tainted records… https://t.co/tISONGv1Ko

— Pawan Khera ಪವನ್ ಖೇರಾ (@Pawankhera) September 7, 2026

It is both haunting and moving to see the book, ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’, recovered from the rubble at Satya Niketan, Delhi.

It is a heartbreaking story of oppression, endurance, solidarity, love, sacrifice and hope.

The novel follows the lives of women in Afghanistan. But… https://t.co/MNeHq4bDOV

— Pawan Khera ಪವನ್ ಖೇರಾ (@Pawankhera) September 6, 2026

The Satya Niketan Collapse Exposes The Reality Behind The Growth Claims pic.twitter.com/fvhkSxJZ3N

— Congress (@INCIndia) September 7, 2026

The Aam Aadmi Party, meanwhile, placed the responsibility more directly on the Delhi civic and administrative machinery. AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal described the collapse as “extremely tragic and alarming” and said the government needed to “wake up from its slumber”, calling for comprehensive measures to protect public safety. AAP MP Atishi demanded a high-level inquiry and strict action against those responsible for negligence. Saurabh Bharadwaj went further, questioning the functioning of the MCD building department and alleging that corruption and political influence had allowed unsafe construction to continue. Those allegations should themselves be investigated rather than treated as established fact, but they underline the central issue: the collapse was not simply the consequence of one building owner’s decisions; it raises questions about the regulatory machinery that was supposed to identify dangerous construction before people were killed.

सत्य निकेतन, दिल्ली में इमारत गिरने का हादसा अत्यंत दुखद और चिंताजनक है। मेरी भगवान से प्रार्थना है कि मलबे में फंसे लोगों का सकुशल और जल्द रेस्क्यू हो जाए।

दिल्ली में सरकार की लापरवाही के कारण अब तक कई हादसे हो चुके हैं। सरकार को नींद से जागना होगा। बड़े स्तर पर एक्शन लेकर… https://t.co/HSzRPPOVJy

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) September 6, 2026

दिल्ली के मोती बाग स्थित सत्य निकेतन में इमारत गिरने की ख़बर बेहद दुखद और चिंताजनक है। मलबे में छात्रों समेत कई लोगों के दबे होने की आशंका बेहद विचलित करने वाली है।

प्रशासन से अपील है कि राहत एवं बचाव कार्य पूरी तत्परता से चलाया जाएँ और मलबे में फंसे सभी लोगों को सुरक्षित बाहर…

— Atishi (@AtishiAAP) September 6, 2026

How would someone trapped in a cavity of debris call for help when Mobile Signals have been jammed ?

Who ordered to install Mobile Jammers at Satya Niketan PG students building ?

Why did NDRF took 2-3 hours to reach in the middle of delhi ?

Why were Govt Ambulances 2 hours… pic.twitter.com/V6xAw79r1X

— Saurabh Bharadwaj (@Saurabh_MLAgk) September 8, 2026

The protest has moved from grief to a demand for structural change

The students’ demands are also increasingly being translated into formal legal and institutional action. A PIL filed by DU law student Aniket Kumar Gupta has sought an independent investigation into the collapse, an immediate safety audit of private PGs and hostels in Satya Niketan, safe relocation of students from unsafe buildings and ₹1 crore compensation for each deceased victim, reported Indian Express.

NSUI has separately moved the Delhi High Court seeking a structured hostel-development policy for Delhi University. Moreover, the wider student mobilisation is happening against the backdrop of the Delhi High Court itself questioning the regulation of PGs and the adequacy of hostel facilities.

The Court has asked how buildings with permissions for limited floors are being turned into much larger PG structures and why there is no effective mechanism regulating such accommodation.

The significance of Satya Niketan is already travelling beyond the immediate site. The Times of India reported that students at Sir Chotu Ram Institute of Engineering and Technology in Meerut protested outside the vice-chancellor’s office over hostel shortages in the aftermath of the Delhi tragedy. The students were demanding accommodation and expressing heightened fears about being forced into private housing after seeing what happened in Satya Niketan, reported The Times of India.

Conclusion: The students should not have had to become their own rescue system

The most disturbing lesson of Satya Niketan is not simply that an allegedly unauthorised and structurally compromised building collapsed. It is that, in the crucial first moments after it did, ordinary residents and students were among those who climbed into the rubble, organised human chains, moved debris and searched for survivors. The government’s response cannot end with suspensions, sealing drives and post-disaster audits. Those measures may be necessary, but they are the beginning of accountability, not its conclusion. Authorities must establish who approved what, what the building was legally permitted to contain, whether it was ever inspected, whether violations were detected, whether notices were issued, whether enforcement was attempted, and why a property being used to house students was allowed to remain in operation. The precise cause of the collapse must also be established independently rather than prematurely attributed to basement work, rain, seepage or any other single factor while the investigation is still underway.

Most importantly, the State cannot simultaneously fail to provide adequate student housing and then treat the safety of the private housing market as someone else’s problem. When public universities provide only a fraction of the accommodation their students require, students are pushed into dense private neighbourhoods such as Satya Niketan. When those neighbourhoods become commercially dependent on student housing without corresponding infrastructure, regulation and enforcement, the resulting risk is not merely a “private” landlord problem. It becomes a question of urban governance and public responsibility. The collapse has therefore exposed more than one unsafe building. It has exposed a system in which students are expected to find their own roofs, residents are expected to improvise rescue operations, and governments arrive with audits after the deaths have already occurred.

Related:

Days of Demands, Hours of Protest: Swatantra Bhardwaj finally detained in assault case

The Normalisation of Suicide at IITs: Institutional blindness and failure

Pune’s DJ Controversy, Ganeshotsav and Assault: The politics of who gets to make noise

Midnight Arrest, Daylight Questions: Why was Santosh Pandit taken into custody?

The post Satya Niketan Collapse: When students and neighbours had to rescue students from a system that had failed them appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In an important first, the court has directed the Assam government to pay Begum interim compensation of ₹2 lakh. More significantly, however, the judgment raises disturbing questions about the manner in which the Foreigners Tribunal, police and State authorities operated in her case—and whether the machinery of citizenship determination was used to prevent judicial scrutiny rather than facilitate it.

As per the Scroll report, the Gauhati High Court bench of Justice Kalyan Rai Surana and Justice Susmita Phukan Khaund found that the conduct of the Nagaon Foreigners Tribunal displayed an apparent “malice in law”. The court went further, holding that the State machinery had acted “in tandem” to prevent Begum from exercising her right to approach the High Court against the tribunal’s order.

The case therefore goes beyond an individual error by a tribunal. It exposes what can happen when the determination of citizenship, detention and expulsion operate in close succession, leaving the person concerned with little or no practical opportunity to seek judicial protection.

A case that should never have reached deportation

Begum’s ordeal began decades before her eventual expulsion. As reported by Scroll, she was marked as a ‘D’ or doubtful voter in 1997, following a revision of electoral rolls in Assam. According to Scroll, around three lakh voters were disenfranchised during that process, with many subsequently referred by the border police to Foreigners Tribunals. Begum’s citizenship case then moved through the familiar and often exhausting cycle of tribunal proceedings and judicial challenges.

In 2017, the Nagaon Foreigners Tribunal ruled against her. She challenged that decision before the Gauhati High Court, which ordered a retrial. She returned to the tribunal, where she was again declared a foreigner. Begum challenged the decision once more in 2019. This time, the High Court found that the tribunal had failed to properly consider the evidence she had produced and directed it to reconsider the matter.

That direction should have meant another opportunity for the tribunal to examine the evidence and reach a fresh decision in accordance with law. Instead, the proceedings took a deeply troubling turn.

Arrested when she appeared to defend her case

On May 30, Begum appeared before the Nagaon Foreigners Tribunal pursuant to the High Court’s directions. According to the account reported by Scroll, rather than receiving a substantive reconsideration of her case, she was declared a foreigner and arrested within minutes of appearing before the tribunal. Her lawyers alleged that she was not even supplied a copy of the order—an omission that had obvious consequences because without knowing the contents of the order, challenging it became practically impossible. The High Court subsequently scrutinised the sequence of events surrounding her arrest.

Begum’s family said she appeared before the tribunal at around 12.30 pm and was arrested roughly half an hour later. As Scroll reported, the tribunal judge disputed this account. The Nagaon Superintendent of Police also told the court that the border police had arrested her near the tribunal premises at around 2 pm. But the High Court was not persuaded by the competing explanations.

The court reasoned that if Begum had actually been informed, even orally, that she had been declared a foreigner, there would have been little reason for her to remain around the tribunal premises during the period in which the police were able to take her into custody. That observation goes to the heart of the case.

The question was not simply whether Begum had been declared a foreigner. It was whether the process had been deliberately structured in such a way that she could be removed before she could challenge that declaration.

The right to appeal cannot be defeated by detention

The High Court’s most serious finding concerns precisely this issue. According to the court, the tribunal judge had “deliberately and wilfully delayed” issuing the order in a manner that enabled Begum to be arrested, moved to the Matia detention centre and subsequently expelled from India. The court concluded that the State machinery had thereby prevented her from exhausting her legal remedies and from approaching the High Court through a writ petition.

This is crucial. A tribunal’s declaration that a person is a foreigner does not, by itself, erase the constitutional right to challenge the decision. A legal system cannot meaningfully provide a remedy if the person concerned be removed from the country before she can access that remedy. The problem becomes particularly stark in citizenship cases, where the consequences of an adverse order can include detention, separation from family and eventual expulsion. The right to judicial review cannot become merely theoretical.

The tribunal’s conduct under scrutiny

The court did not confine its criticism to the consequences of the tribunal’s order. It questioned the circumstances in which the order itself came into existence. The High Court directed Assam’s Home and Political Department to investigate the date and time on which the tribunal member had prepared the opinion, Scroll reported. If necessary, the authorities were even directed to seize the tribunal member’s computer to establish when the order had been prepared.

The High Court also criticised the tribunal judge, Bipul Kumar Nath, saying that he appeared to have developed a personal grudge because the matter had earlier been remanded to him for fresh consideration. The issue, therefore, was not simply procedural irregularity. The court was examining whether the process had been manipulated to produce a particular outcome—and to ensure that outcome could not be challenged in time.

Expulsion before legal remedies were exhausted

The court also pointed to the safeguards governing expulsion. As reported by Scroll, the High Court found that Begum was denied an opportunity to challenge the May 30 order, which it described as a direct violation of the applicable standard operating procedure under the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950. The procedure requires legal remedies available to a person to be exhausted before expulsion. That safeguard is not a technicality.

Expulsion is an irreversible act with potentially devastating consequences. Once a person is pushed across an international border, access to Indian courts, lawyers, documents and family becomes infinitely more difficult. In Begum’s case, that is precisely what appears to have happened. Her family discovered that she had been expelled only after approaching the Gauhati High Court with a habeas corpus petition. The court subsequently involved the Ministry of External Affairs and indicated that efforts should be made to locate Begum in Bangladesh and bring her back to India.

Article 21 does not stop at citizenship

One of the most important aspects of the judgment is the High Court’s invocation of Article 21 of the Constitution. The court reiterated that the protection of life and personal liberty extends not only to Indian citizens but also to non-citizens. In other words, even a person whom the State treats as a foreign national does not become a person without constitutional protection. This principle is particularly significant in Assam, where citizenship status has become deeply intertwined with detention, deportation and political debates about migration.

The constitutional question cannot simply be reduced to whether a person has successfully established citizenship. Even where the State claims that an individual is a foreign national, the State must still act according to law. It cannot imprison a person without due process, suppress an available remedy, conceal an order from the person affected, or remove her from the country before she has had a genuine opportunity to challenge the decision.

₹2 lakh is compensation—but the judgment is about much more

The ₹2 lakh compensation ordered by the High Court should not obscure the larger significance of the case as the Gauhati High Court has also attempted to ensure that what happened to Begum is not repeated. It directed the Superintendent of Police in every district of Assam to ensure that a person declared a foreign national is informed of the tribunal’s judgment before being taken into custody. It further directed that an adult member of the person’s family should be informed before the detainee is moved outside the jurisdiction of the district police.

These directions are significant because they recognise a basic principle of procedural fairness: a person must know what has been decided against them before the State takes away their liberty.

Family notification is equally important. In citizenship and detention cases, the disappearance of a family member can leave relatives with no information about where the person has been taken or whether they remain in the country.

The High Court has effectively drawn a line: a declaration of foreigner status does not authorise the State to bypass due process. The State cannot convert a tribunal order into an immediate mechanism of disappearance. It cannot use detention to defeat the right of appeal. And it cannot treat the absence of citizenship status as the absence of constitutional rights.

Related:

From Statelessness to Citizenship: CJP helps Adori Bibi reclaim her Indian identity

Nationality Before Deportation: The Rajubala Das case

Aadhaar, Voter ID and PAN Cannot Prove Citizenship: Calcutta High Court’s Foreigners Order and the burden of belonging

Another CJP Victory: Barpeta Tribunal declares Alam Khan ‘not a foreigner’

The post Declared ‘Foreigner’, denied a hearing, pushed across the border: Gauhati HC pulls up Assam appeared first on SabrangIndia.

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