Amnesty slams NSA powers in Delhi, warns against arbitrary detentions
Says decision an ‘affront to human rights’, risks further inflaming situation
New Delhi : Amnesty International has strongly criticized the Delhi Lieutenant Governor’s decision to invoke powers under India’s stringent National Security Act (NSA), warning that the move undermines fundamental rights and could further escalate tensions amid the ongoing Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led protests in the Indian capital.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the NSA empowers the police to detain individuals for up to 12 months without charge or trial and without the procedural safeguards guaranteed under international human rights law, including the right to be informed of the grounds of detention and the right to challenge the detention before a judicial authority.
Aakar Patel, Chair of the Board of Amnesty International India, said, “This deeply concerning move is an affront to human rights that risks enflaming the situation in Delhi even further.” The move, he said, “grants the police a host of discretionary powers to detain people for entirely arbitrary reasons.”
He said detainees could be denied legal representation before the advisory board and need not be informed of the reasons for their detention for up to 15 days, effectively suspending fair trial guarantees.
Rejecting the Delhi Police’s claim that the move was merely a routine administrative measure, Patel said similar powers had previously been misused to suppress dissent, including during the anti-CAA protests in 2020 and the workers’ protests in Noida in 2026.
He stressed that such extraordinary powers had no place in democratic policing and urged the Delhi Police not to invoke the NSA against peaceful protesters or use preventive detention to bypass legal safeguards. “Peaceful protest is a human right,” he said.
The rights organization noted that the NSA allows authorities to detain individuals merely on suspicion or the belief that they may act against public order or national security in the future, without filing formal charges or conducting a trial.
Amnesty International reiterated its opposition to administrative detention, saying it circumvents the criminal justice system and, when used during mass protests, violates the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and protection from arbitrary detention.
The criticism comes as Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led demonstrations continue across New Delhi, with protesters demanding accountability over examination paper leaks and other issues. The protests have witnessed repeated confrontations with police, detentions of demonstrators and heightened security measures, drawing growing concern from opposition parties and civil society groups over restrictions on the right to peaceful assembly.
