monitor.civicus.org / by CIVICUS

India’s civic space is rated as ‘repressed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. Even as the country celebrated its 79th Independence Day on 15th August 2025, the government continued to target activists and civil society organisations by misusing draconian anti-terror and sedition laws to silence dissent. Laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) are used to keep activists and academics behind bars and to fabricate charges against those critical of the government and its polarising, discriminative and anti-poor policies.
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BK-16 activists detained for years continue to seek bail
Academic and anti-caste activist Hany Babu was due to appear before the Bombay High Court seeking regular (indefinite) bail on 12th August 2025 after his request was approved by the Supreme Court on 16th July 2025. However, his bail hearing has been delayed without prior notice until 8th September 2025. He has spent more than 5 years in jail awaiting trial.
Hany Babu, who has been held in pre-trial detention since his formal arrest on 28 July 2020, has applied for bail on at least five separate occasions, including medical bail, but has yet to be approved.
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Also read:
▪ India: Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee on the deterioration of civic space (CIVICUS /Jul 2024)
▪ Civic Freedoms in India ‘Repressed’: Global Monitor Civicus (The Wire / Mar 2023)