Immediately release human rights defender Ajay Singhal and drop criminal proceedings against him
The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum Asia) and Front Line Defenders strongly condemn the arrest of human rights defender and lawyer Ajay Singhal and call for his immediate release.
Ajay Singhal is a prominent advocate with over three decades of experience working on issues of labour rights, forced displacement, corporate exploitation of Indigenous communities, militarization, and the rights of religious and caste minorities. He is a founding member of Jharkhand-based Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan (VVJVA), a network of over 50 grassroots organizations across India that peacefully opposes the forced eviction of indigenous communities for development projects led by multinational corporations. The human rights defender is also a member of the Indian Association of Peoples’ Lawyers and other civil and democratic rights organizations campaigning for the release of political prisoners, including lawyers, activists, artists and public intellectuals, particularly those arrested under the Bhima Koregaon (BK16) case.
On 31 August 2024, Ajay Singhal was arrested by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA), following a pre-dawn raid on his residence in Chandigarh. After being remanded to police custody, he was transferred to Lucknow. where he is currently being held without bail. His arrest is part of a broader NIA investigation, involving multiple NIA raids across Delhi, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, targetting individuals allegedly involved in efforts to revive the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). The CPI (Maoist) was outlawed in 2009 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) of 1967.
The VVJVA, of which Ajay Singhal is a founding member, is currently being investigated for alleged connections to the CPI(M). Since May 2023, state agencies have conducted raids on the houses of several members of VVJVA members. Other human rights defenders closely associated with the VVJVA, such as Father Stan Swamy and G.N. Saibaba, have also been targeted by Indian state authorities.
Ajay Singhal was previously targeted with surveillance using the Pegasus spyware in 2019, an Israeli spyware tool also used against BK16 activists. Over the past year, Ajay Singhal and his family have faced repeated harassment by the NIA due to his human rights work.
These actions against Ajay Singhal appear to be a direct reprisal for his human rights work, raising serious concerns about the criminalization of human rights defenders in India. The allegations against him follow a troubling pattern of abuse by national security agencies, where human rights defenders who raise legitimate concerns about the rights of marginalized communities are falsely accused of links to Maoists and charged under draconian counter-terrorism laws like the UAPA.
Front Line Defenders and Forum Asia call for an immediate end to the reprisals against Ajay Singhal and call for his prompt release. The Indian authorities must ensure that human rights defenders can carry out their legitimate and peaceful work without fear of reprisals.
