Counterview

By A Representative   At a time when dissent is increasingly being treated as a threat rather than an essential part of democracy, the human rights group ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy) organised Pratirodh Ka Jashn (Celebrating Resistance) at the Press Club of India, Raisina Road, New Delhi. The programme brought together poetry, music and cultural thought to reaffirm the importance of resistance in safeguarding democracy and the Indian Constitution.

By Likha Tana*  A 12-hour bandh in Pasighat on October 23, 2026, has brought long-simmering tensions over the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP) project to a boiling point. Organized by groups including the Adi Baane Kebang-United, the protest demanded the release of activists previously detained for opposing the project, the withdrawal of security forces, and an immediate halt to pre-feasibility studies and survey activities. 

By A Representative   The All-India Feminist Alliance (ALIFA) on Saturday expressed “immense pain and outrage” that even after four years and a national uproar, justice has not been fully delivered in the Ankita Bhandari murder case and that a ruling party politician facing allegations has been “gifted a high-ranking constitutional office.” In a statement, ALIFA extended “unflinching solidarity” to Ankita’s parents, who it said are “fighting for justice on the streets of Delhi,” and demanded that pending the CBI inquiry and judicial decision, the appointment of BJP leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam as Sikkim’s Governor be subject to “immediate presidential review.”

By Raqif Makhdoomi*  The law mandates the dignity of life as a fundamental right, meaning a life with dignity cannot be denied to anyone. However, a troubling phenomenon is spreading rapidly through society, particularly in Kashmir: the practice of declaring a person criminal at the very stage of arrest.

Counterview Desk   International human rights judge Navi Pillay was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. She was honoured for her lifelong dedication to international law and global justice. To understand more about Pillay and her work, The Conversation , an online journal, spoke with Sam Naidu*, a feminist and literary scholar with a focus on crime and justice, and the author of a biography of Pillay. ***

By Shamsul Islam*  On October 11, 2026, an attempt on the lives of Hindu worshippers at the Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Temple in Aurora, Illinois, one of the largest Hindu temples in the United States, was foiled. The temple is about 40 miles west of downtown Chicago. According to prosecutors, the suspect's AR-style rifle, a lightweight, magazine-fed, semi-automatic firearm freely available in the US, jammed.

By Rosamma Thomas*  On Monday, October 12, 2026, lawyer Prashant Bhushan urged the Supreme Court to hear with urgency the contempt plea challenging the imminent commercial release of gene-edited rice varieties in India.

By A Representative   India's top civil rights network, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), has condemned the reported police crackdown on protesters opposing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Delhi, alleging that peaceful demonstrators, including students, women, queer persons, journalists, lawyers and activists, were subjected to violence. It has demanded the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the release of detained activists and the withdrawal of cases registered against protesters.

By Harsh Thakor*  Issues 89-90 of the journal Aspects of India’s Economy , titled "West Asia: The People Refuse to Submit," published by the Research Unit for Political Economy (RUPE), serves as a comprehensive documentation of how the oppressed peoples of the world are mobilizing to overpower US imperialism . The special issue underscores a central thesis: despite the merciless military power of US imperialism and its regional gendarme, Israel , and while weapons remain an important factor, it is the people who play the most decisive role in shaping historical proceedings. 

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak*  The American Dream was popularized by historian James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America  (1931), during the Great Depression, when American corporate profits fell from 2.8 billion in 1929 to −2.6 billion in 1930. Even this decline created significant social and economic strain for working people. Corporations cut costs and restructured their operations to survive, but unemployment reached 25% by 1933, leaving millions in poverty. 

By A Representative   A women's rights group, All India Mahila Sanskritik Sangathan (AIMSS), has issued a strong condemnation of the police action taken against the parents of Ankita Bhandari, a 19-year-old receptionist from Uttarakhand whose 2022 murder has sparked renewed national outrage following a controversial political appointment.

By A Representative   A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the illegalities arising from requiring voters, whose names were deleted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, to fill Form 6 to seek re-inclusion in the voter list. The statement on the petition has been issued by Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri.

By A Representative   In a strongly worded appeal addressed to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), ecologist and former UN Environmental Negotiator Dr. S. Faizi has urged the organization to remove Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar from his position as Chair of its Council of Member States for 2026. The letter, addressed to International IDEA Secretary-General Dr. Kevin Casas-Zamora, also calls for the immediate establishment of an independent mechanism to monitor India’s electoral process.

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Trains have been cancelled, metro services suspended, and announcements issued urging parents, teachers, and resident associations to exercise caution about venturing outdoors. A peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar has emerged as a major challenge for the current regime. People have witnessed such high-handedness before. The methodology is simple: foil the protest at all costs, using every possible means at the government's disposal.

By Sandeep Pandey, Shashank Singh  On October 7, 2026, a bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Achal Sachdev of the Allahabad High Court did not mince words, remarking that the state of the police in Uttar Pradesh is a mess and that officers operate with the impunity of believing they can do anything and get away with it. Hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by a man named Deepak, the Court admonished the Assistant Commissioner of Police and the Station House Officer of Gautam Buddha Nagar. 

By Harsh Thakor*  The arrest of Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen, commonly known as the “Gang of Four,” marked a major change in the political direction of the People’s Republic of China. Occurring shortly less than a month after the death of Mao Zedong on September 9, 1976,  the arrests brought the radical phase of the Cultural Revolution to an end and initiated a transition in the balance of power within the Communist Party and the state. The 50-year-old episode was followed by a reassessment of the Cultural Revolution and, over the subsequent years, by significant changes in China’s political and economic policies.

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan   For religious minorities in India, the roar of the bulldozer has become an ominous soundtrack to their daily lives. Ever since the saffron-led government came to power, these communities have voiced mounting concerns over what they perceive as systematic political action and discrimination. Across the nation, mosques, mazars, dargahs, madrasas, and various other Muslim religious properties have increasingly featured in high-profile demolition, eviction, and anti-encroachment drives conducted by municipal, state, and central agencies. 

By Harsh Thakor*  A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Jagdalpur, Bastar district, has sentenced 10 people to death in connection with the 2013 Jhiram Valley Maoist attack. The case concerns the attack on a Congress convoy in which at least 27 people, including senior Congress leaders, were killed and around 38 others were injured.

By Aseem Mishra*  For years, Kutch presented a striking contradiction. It emerged as one of Gujarat's most industrialised districts, with ports, mining, salt production, chemicals, engineering, steel, ceramics, textiles and large infrastructure projects, yet the district remained outside the full territorial coverage of the Employees' State Insurance (ESI) scheme. That contradiction has now formally changed. A notification issued by the Ministry of Labour and Employment on 25 September 2026 appointed 1 October 2026 as the date from which contributions under Section 29 of the Code on Social Security, 2020 would become payable in the entire area of Kutch and other previously non-implemented districts of Gujarat, with benefits under Chapter IV relating to the Employees' State Insurance Corporation to be provided to covered employees. The journey to this point, however, took several years of representations, official correspondence, a Public Interest Litigation and ...

By Nava Thakuria*  The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led government has formed three high-level committees to address long-standing problems in the Chattogram Hill Tracts (CHT), a region in southeastern Bangladesh that borders India's Tripura and Mizoram states and Myanmar's Rakhine state. Bangladeshi intellectuals, civil society representatives and several Asian rights bodies have opposed the move, arguing that it could increase militarisation and human rights violations against the region's indigenous people.