India has strongly criticised a United Nations human rights report, accusing its authors of relying on arbitrary and unverifiable claims and warning that such reporting undermines the credibility of the world body and its institutions.
The latest objection reflects New Delhi’s growing pushback against international human rights assessments that it considers selective, inadequately substantiated or unfairly critical of India. Indian officials have argued that sweeping allegations based on anonymous submissions cannot be treated as established facts about a country of 1.4 billion people.
India’s criticism comes amid a wider diplomatic dispute over the role of UN human rights mechanisms, including their scrutiny of peaceful assembly, freedom of association and the treatment of young people in India.
At the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee in New York, First Secretary Anuj Swarup of India’s UN mission in Geneva rejected a report by Special Rapporteur Gina Romero on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. The report stated that young people in India had reported retaliation or stigmatisation for discussing mental health or gender justice.
India objected to the report’s reliance on an unidentified submission to support the claim. Swarup argued that anonymous and unverified allegations could not justify sweeping conclusions about the country’s youth population.
“A sweeping charge against the world’s largest youth population, resting on anonymous and unverified claims is not evidence,” Swarup said.
He described the report as “hearsay dressed up as a UN report” and said India rejected it outright. He also warned that arbitrary reporting was damaging the credibility of the United Nations and its institutions.
The diplomat further argued that a mandate holder who relied on anonymous inputs to generalise about 1.4 billion people was failing to meet the responsibilities of the office.
Second Time India Challenges UN Reports
The confrontation marks the second time in the same week that India has challenged the UN human rights establishment over what it calls selective scrutiny and inconsistent standards.
On Wednesday, Swarup criticised UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, alleging that his reporting failed to adequately address violent responses to protests in neighbouring countries and the West. India said such inconsistencies weakened trust in the international human rights system.
The latest dispute comes as the UN human rights office has separately raised concerns about the detention of protesters, civil society members, lawyers and journalists during demonstrations in Delhi on October 10. The office called on Indian authorities to protect the right to peaceful assembly, exercise restraint and release those arbitrarily detained.
India rejected those concerns as unwarranted interference in its internal affairs, maintaining that the right to peaceful assembly was protected by the Constitution, subject to public order and safety, and that law enforcement agencies acted in accordance with the law.
The exchanges highlight a widening disagreement between New Delhi and UN human rights bodies over the credibility of international assessments, the verification of allegations and the limits of external scrutiny of domestic affairs.