DYFI to move Supreme Court over alleged illegal detention, torture of activists

The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the CPI(M), will move the Supreme Court challenging what it described as the “illegal detention” and “custodial torture” of its activists, Rajya Sabha member and national president of the organisation, A.A. Rahim, said on Sunday (October 11, 2026).

Mr. Rahim alleged that DYFI members were holding a peaceful protest when police personnel “dragged them off the road and forced them into a bus”. He claimed that, instead of a police station, the detainees were driven to a location without CCTV coverage.

According to Mr. Rahim, the detainees were then segregated by gender and assaulted inside the buses. Accusing the police of subjecting them to brutal treatment, he said, “These vehicles were nothing short of Guantanamo Bay on wheels.”

Mr. Rahim further alleged that the police failed to follow established legal procedures, including preparing arrest memos, informing family members, conducting medical examinations of detainees, and producing them before a magistrate.

“All this happened on the same day the Supreme Court ordered that peaceful assemblies must not be illegally detained,” he said.

The petition, he said, would highlight these alleged violations, seek an independent inquiry into the police action, and urge the apex court to frame binding guidelines governing detentions during protests.

Senior advocate Arundhati Katju will argue the case, and advocate-on-record Subhash Chandran K.R. will file it, Mr. Rahim said.