‘Misplaced, unwarranted’: India slams OHCHR for raising concern over SIR protest | India News

NEW DELHI: India on Saturday termed the United Nations Human Rights Commission’s concern over the mass detention of protesters in Delhi as “misplaced” and said the right to peaceful assembly is guaranteed by the country’s Constitution.In a social media post on X, India at UN said the remarks by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) amounted to “unwarranted interference in the internal affairs of India”.“We have seen the OHCHR’s remarks about today’s events in New Delhi. India is the world’s largest democracy, where the right to peaceful assembly is guaranteed by our Constitution and safeguarded by robust institutions, an independent judiciary, and a free media,” it said.“As in every democracy, Indian citizens exercise this right subject to reasonable restrictions in the interest of public order. The authorities, for their part, act in accordance with the law, and our courts remain available to all for redressal of any grievances. The OHCHR’s concerns are therefore misplaced and constitute an unwarranted interference in the internal affairs of India,” it added.

It also advised the international body to “devote comparable attention” to large-scale protests in different parts of the world.“In this context, OHCHR would also do well to devote comparable attention to large-scale protests elsewhere, consistent with its mandate of impartiality and non-selectivity,” it said.This comes after the OHCHR raised concerns over mass detentions during the Cockroach Janata Party-led protest in New Delhi against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.