The Constitution of India guarantees all citizens the fundamental right to peaceful assembly and protest. The right to organise, assemble, and speak is at the core of democracy, and the curtailment of any of the fundamental rights is a curtailment of democracy itself. That being the promise of the Constitution to every citizen, regardless of gender, caste, or status, it is unsettling that the Government of India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is brazenly knocking down those rights through police high-handedness across the country, particularly in Delhi, the capital. Youth and student organisations, such as the CJP, the AISA, SFI and AISF, had called for a peaceful protest on October 10. Instead of ensuring peaceful assembly, as per the law of the land, the Centre ordered a countrywide swoop, where thousands of young people were taken into preventive detention and Delhi was locked down as if under martial law.
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