Human rights in India in 2025: ‘Highlights’ of the year so far
At the end of every year, the organisation I represent puts out a report on human rights in India. This is part of Amnesty International’s global assessment, which focuses on violations mostly, though not exclusively, by states around the world.
I was going through the draft of this year’s report, which is updated to September 2025, and thought readers would be interested to know where we stand. This will be a list of highlights, or — to be more accurate — a list of rock-bottom low points.
In January 2025, Uttarakhand passed rules enforcing a Uniform Civil Code. It mandates the registration of all live-in relationships, with the state authorities supposedly to combat religious conversions via fraudulent marriages. The rules were passed without considering a report on the rules from a nine-member panel appointed by the government.
In February 2025, Rajasthan introduced a Bill criminalising consensual inter-faith marriages that involved conversion and proposed 10 years in jail for those Muslims marrying Hindus and vice versa. Maharashtra passed a resolution aimed at blocking inter-faith marriage as well.
Also in the same month, the Malvan Municipal Corporation demolished the scrap shop belonging to the father of a minor boy accused of saying something after India’s win against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy cricket match.
In March 2025, the Maharashtra police filed an FIR against Kunal Kamra in connection with his stand-up comedy show called Naya Bharat (‘New India’). Violence against the venue followed. This was but one of a series of episodes where freedom of expression, a fundamental right, was abused by the state.
The previous month, for........
© National Herald
