: [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION Oct. 13, 2026: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the protests in India have been going on for months. In fact, they’ve been going on for weeks.]
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The U.N. Human Rights Office has criticized the Indian government for mass detentions of protesters. They've been demonstrating against a controversial revision of India's electoral roll.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS #1: (Chanting in non-English language).
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS #2: (Chanting in non-English language).
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS #1: (Chanting in non-English language).
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS #2: (Chanting in non-English language).
RASCOE: The capital city of the world's largest democracy was under a semi-lockdown over the weekend. Mobile internet was cut off, trains were canceled, roads were choked, and police and paramilitary forces flooded the streets, warning people on loudspeakers not to gather. NPR's Omkar Khandekar reports from New Delhi.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS #3: (Chanting in non-English language).
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Non-English language spoken).
OMKAR KHANDEKAR, BYLINE: Protesters are demanding the resignation of India's election commissioner after more than 100 million names were deleted from India's voter lists. But anywhere they gather, police pounce on them.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
KHANDEKAR: Swinging sticks, trapping some by their necks, and stuffing them into buses. Those detained include lawyers, legislators, even journalists simply reporting on the protests, like Tanushree Pandey.
TANUSHREE PANDEY: They detained me, put me in the bus, took me to, you know, one of the detention centers they have made in the national capital.
KHANDEKAR: That detention center was a sports stadium they were using as a holding pen for the day. Others said they were driven outside city limits and dumped on the road. India's ruling BJP Party has rejected allegations that the Election Commission was rigging voter lists in its favor. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been in office for more than 12 years, has not addressed the crisis. The protesters nodded to that in their chants, shouting...
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Chanting in non-English language).
KHANDEKAR: ...Whenever Modi is scared, he hides behind the police. The clampdown continued on Sunday as the courts ordered the release of protest leaders from Cockroach Janta Party, an online meme turned activist group. The so-called cockroaches vowed that they would be back on the streets. Protest leader Neha Bora said, the police now have a choice...
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NEHA BORA: (Non-English language spoken).
KHANDEKAR: ...Whether they want to stand with the citizens or the election commissioner. Omkar Khandekar, NPR News, New Delhi. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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