A small group of activists under the banner Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) were detained by police and central forces at Vijay Chowk where they had gathered to mark World Human Rights Day on Sunday afternoon.

Prohibitory orders are permanently in force in New Delhi district, where the incident took place. Vijay Chowk, beside Parliament House, is at the foot of Raisina Hill where Rashtrapati Bhavan, North Block and South Block are located.

The permitted place for public demonstrations in the district is the Jantar Mantar Road, where the group — an umbrella body mainly of Left-leaning outfits — was denied permission by the police to gather, “in view of security/ law & order/ traffic reasons”. Among those invited to speak at the event was CPI general secretary D. Raja.

Raja told this paper from Kerala — where he was on Sunday to attend the last rites of his party’s state secretary Kanam Rajendran: “This is condemnable. This government is trampling upon democracy and constitutional rights, that too on human rights day.”

New Delhi DCP Pranav Tayal said: “A group of protesters came to Vijay Chowk and when they were asked to disperse as they were in violation of CrPC Section 144, they became aggressive due to which they were detained. In the process, two police personnel sustained head injuries and action as per law is being taken.”

The CASR claimed that more than 50 of its supporters were held at the Jaffarpur Kalan and Baba Haridas Nagar police stations in South West Delhi.

The group said in a statement: “After cancelling the police permission for CASR’s Protest Gathering cum Public Meeting to mark the occasion of Human Rights Day at the last minute, the Delhi Police detained and attacked the protesters who had gathered near Jantar Mantar to oppose this grave violation of democratic rights.”

They added: “On the occasion where the world celebrates the 75th anniversary of United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the Indian state which internationally claims to be the world’s largest democracy is ready to assault protesters to silence discourse against the rising tide of corporate loot of natural resources, against militarised genocide of Adivasis, against brahmanical patriarchy, against caste atrocities, against the corporate assault on peasantry and the exploitation of the labouring people.”