The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has raised alarm over escalating threats, intimidation and surveillance targeting Shiv Kumar, a Dalit labour rights defender, and his family in India. It has called on the authorities to end the harassment immediately and to guarantee that he will not be arbitrarily arrested or detained for his legitimate work.
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders was created in 1997 by FIDH and OMCT to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. Both organisations are members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism.
Kumar is a member of the Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan (MAS), an organisation that advocates for the rights of contract workers in Haryana State. According to information received by the Observatory, at around 11 pm on 8 October 2026, about ten armed police officers from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Haryana Police, some in plain clothes and others in uniform, arrived at his home in the village of Devru, in Sonipat district. They searched the house and surrounding area and inspected the mobile phones of his family members.
Further incidents followed. On 10 October, police officers visited a shop near Mr Kumar's workplace, while NIA officials showed photographs of him and his colleague Manjeet to people near the MAS office and asked questions about them. The next day, an unmarked vehicle was seen following Kumar's brother, Sagar Kumar, as he left for work.
These events came after an NIA visit to the family home on 25 September 2026, when Kumar was not there. Officers reportedly questioned and intimidated his father and brother without presenting a warrant or giving prior notice, and took his father's mobile phone, accessed its contents without consent and then returned it. The same officials allegedly visited the MAS premises and threatened the landlord over renting to labour rights activists. The landlord subsequently asked Kumar and his colleagues to vacate.
The pressure comes against a backdrop of formal legal jeopardy. On 16 April 2026, the NIA issued a notice summoning Kumar for questioning in connection with the so-called "Lucknow Conspiracy Case," exposing him to the risk of arrest. The case was opened in September 2023 to investigate alleged efforts to revive Maoist activity in northern India, and it has involved investigations into human rights defenders, labour rights activists, students and lawyers across several states.
Kumar has already endured serious abuse at the hands of the authorities. On 12 March 2026, Delhi Police Special Cell officers held him for roughly 60 hours without a warrant or explanation, and he was tortured and ill-treated after being questioned about other activists in relation to the same case. He was freed on the night of 14 to 15 March, following a habeas corpus petition filed by his father before the Delhi High Court. In January 2021, Haryana Police had also arbitrarily detained and tortured him during the farmers' protests. A report by a District and Sessions Judge, released on 1 July 2022, confirmed that he had been illegally detained and tortured in custody.
The Observatory recalled that the prohibition of torture and arbitrary detention is enshrined in Articles 7 and 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which India is a State party, and that the rights to privacy and freedom of association are protected under Articles 17 and 22. It said it was gravely concerned by the alleged use of firearms to intimidate Kumar's family, the search of his home, the inspection of relatives' phones and the surveillance of his brother, which appear to form part of a broader pattern of intimidation that heightens the risk of his arrest.
The Observatory urged the Indian authorities to guarantee the physical integrity and psychological well-being of Mr Kumar, his family and all human rights defenders in India, and to end all intimidation, threats and surveillance against him, his relatives and his colleagues. It also called for an independent, impartial and effective investigation into the reported abuses, with those responsible held accountable, and for proceedings in the Lucknow Conspiracy Case to comply with international human rights standards and not be used to target defenders for their legitimate activities. More broadly, it demanded that human rights defenders in India be able to work freely and safely, without fear of reprisals.
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