On July 9, 2025, the Delhi Police Special Cell abducted three student activists from the Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch (bsCEM), a democratic student organization known for organizing demonstrations against state oppression and caste violence, at Delhi University.
The students—Gurkirat, Gaurav, and Gauraang—were bsCEM leaders. Plainclothes police officers detained them in a student neighborhood in Delhi. The police had no arrest warrants, the students’ families were not notified of their arrests, and they were denied access to legal counsel. Their whereabouts remained unknown for five days. It was later reported that the students had been held at a Delhi Police Special Cell office in New Friends Colony for over a week, during which time, police reportedly tortured and beat them.
Gurkirat was released on the night of July 16, 2025, after her family was finally notified of her detention. Gaurav and Gauraang were released on July 17 and July 18, respectively. Upon their release, police reportedly forced the students to sign several documents, some of which were blank sheets of paper.
Scholars at Risk is concerned about the temporary disappearance, detention, and torture of several student activists in apparent retaliation for their exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association — conduct that is expressly protected by international human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which India is a party. State authorities have a responsibility to refrain from arrests and detentions that restrict or retaliate against student expression. In addition to the harm to the immediate victim, detentions that target student expression undermine academic freedom and democratic society generally.
Sources:
https://maktoobmedia.com/india/student-activists-illegally-detained-for-a-week-tortured-by-delhi-police-allege-rights-collective/
https://www.counterview.net/2025/07/wave-of-disappearances-sparks-human.html
https://muslimmirror.com/illegal-abductions-humiliation-and-brutal-assault-delhi-police-accused-of-torturing-student-activists-in-custody/
https://icspwindia.site/2025/07/22/casr-strongly-condemns-the-abduction-and-brutal-torture-of-students-and-other-activists-by-delhi-police-special-cell/
https://twocircles.net/2025jul23/452303.html
https://thewire.in/rights/beaten-with-leather-whip-members-of-student-groups-allege-harrowing-torture-in-detention-by-delhi-police-special-cell