Frontline / by Anand Teltumbde

The government has used force to stop protests against Gyanesh Kumar and the SIR. The Supreme Court’s delays and refusal of interim relief have allowed the process to continue, prompting criticism that its caution favors the executive.
On October 10, Delhi was sealed before the protest began. Dozens of Metro stations were closed or restricted, trains cancelled, and mobile internet suspended in central Delhi. Jantar Mantar was ringed with barricades, cameras, water cannons, and security forces; buses waited to carry detainees away. …
In the Bhima-Koregaon case, civil-rights activists, lawyers, and scholars were arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and held for years without trial. During the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Muslim activists, including Umar Khalid, were prosecuted under the same law. Prolonged detention before trial makes process itself a punishment. It was meant to terrorise people into silence. Women wrestlers who protested alleged sexual abuse by a BJP MP were met with police force rather than an urgent reckoning with their allegations.
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Also read:
▪ Who Will Police the Indian Police? (The Wire | by Anand Teltumbde | Sep 2026)
▪ In Defence of the Profanity of Protesters (The Wire | by Anand Teltumbde | Jul 2026)
▪ Who Answers to Us?: The Jantar Mantar Protests and India’s Missing Idea of Accountability (The Wire | by Anand Teltumbde | Jul 2026)