India news: Kolkata stampede dampens Durga Puja festivities

October 18, 2026

Kolkata stampede: Police detain 12, chief minister vows strict action

Police in India's eastern metropolitan city of Kolkata detained 12 people on Saturday night, including the organizers of Chor Bagan Durga Puja, as they probe a stampede that killed nearly 20 people.

The latest update from the state's Chief Minister's X account puts the death toll at 17, with another 25 injured. However, Indian media, including news agency Press Trust of India (PTI), reported that at least 19 people had died. 

The detentions came after West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari promised strict action against those who failed to carry out their duties to maintain crowd safety.

"We have detained 12 people in connection with our probe into the Chor Bagan incident. Our officers are talking to them to find out the cause that led to today's mishap. If any lapses are found, we will act as per the law," the officer told PTI.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal government has announced an independent investigation into the matter, led by a sitting judge of the city's high court. 

"We will check the footage and take appropriate measures against those who failed to manage the crowd. That could be a member of the puja committee, a homeguard, a temporary worker, a policeman, or a private company security guard. Nobody will be spared," Adhikari said.

The politics of Durga Puja

Stampedes at religious and cultural festivals are not uncommon in India, but Adhikari's government is under pressure to make the city's biggest annual festival a hit this year. 

Adhikari belongs to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party which won the state elections in West Bengal for the first time in India's history, ending former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's 15-year rule there.

The festive season was facing pressure even before it began. Food and fuel inflation, worsened by the conflict in the Middle East and lower than normal rainfall at home, is eating into people's disposable incomes. 

Amit Shah, India's Union Home Minister — and Modi's right-hand man — is set to visit the victims and their family members on Sunday morning. The minister had arrived in Kolkata on Saturday evening for a series of festive programs which have now been postponed.

October 18, 2026

Welcome back to our coverage

Good morning! and welcome back to DW's weekend coverage on India. 

This is Mahima Kapoor reporting from Studio Delhi to relieve Dharvi from her shift as she takes off for a well-deserved vacation. 

Dharvi isn't the only one stepping away from her desk as India kicked off its festive season last week. We're currently in the middle of Navratri and Durga Puja, festivals celebrating the different forms of the Indian Goddess Durga. 

Navratri — which translates roughly to 'nine nights' — is fervently celebrated across north and western India with colorful dances and vegetarian delicacies. In the east, Durga Puja takes on an artistic fervor, where numerous beautiful tents are set up to welcome the Goddess back to her maternal home.

They herald the countdown to India's biggest festival of the year, Diwali. 

But the festive cheer has been dampened, at least temporarily, in the eastern state of West Bengal. 

On Saturday evening, heavy crowds, rain and inadequate safety measures led to a stampede in the city fo Kolkata, killing over a dozen people and injuring several more. 

Stay tuned for updates on that and more from India on Sunday.

October 17, 2026

Many killed in stampede at religious festival in Kolkata

At least 17 people, including 13 women and a child, were killed in a stampede at the Durga Puja religious festival in North Kolkata that was likely caused by sudden rainfall.

"Today (17/10/26), at around 19:40 hrs, a stampede occurred at the exit gate of the Sarada Park (Chor Bagan) Puja Pandal in the Girish Park Police Station area due to heavy crowds of pandal visitors amid rain," the Kolkata Police said in a statement, adding that the injured were taken to the hospital.

West Bengal's Chief Minister Suvendhu Adhikari told reporters that the fatalities included a seven-year-old girl and that 25 others were injured in a stampede.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the incident "extremely distressing" and announced interim compensation for the families of those who died.

The largest annual Hindu festival in India's eastern state of West Bengal, Durga Puja attracts thousands of devotees to temporary structures called pandals that house idols of the goddess Durga.

Poor management and safety lapses at large events in India, such as religious festivals, often result in deadly crowd incidents. A stampede at last year's Kumbh Mela religious fair killed 30 people and injured several others.

October 17, 2026

CJP founder released a day after detention

Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), was released by an Indian court on Saturday, one day after his detention for attempting to lead a protest rally in New Delhi.

The movement published a photo of him on X in which it referred to Dipke as "a free man."

The CJP's head of legal affairs, Ratna Singh, said Dipke was released after agreeing to certain conditions. She did not provide details about the terms.

Neha Bora, a prominent student activist and the face of the protests, was also detained on Friday while attempting to reach central Delhi with dozens of supporters. She was released earlier on Saturday.

Dipke called Friday's protest a show of support for the two CJP leaders detained and jailed for five days this week for demonstrating at an unauthorized protest site.

Opposition parties and CJP activists defied a security crackdown and rallied to demand the resignation of India's chief election commissioner.

They accuse the election commission of manipulating voter rolls to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party.

October 17, 2026

WATCH — Indians in Germany protest as voter roll controversy goes global

India's youth-led Cockroach Janta Party is challenging the Indian Election Commission over alleged electoral irregularities.

The controversy is spilling beyond India's borders. Indians in Berlin are joining calls for accountability over controversial voter list revisions.

October 17, 2026

Supreme Court says access to internet fundamental right for children, calls blanket bans 'disproportionate'

India's top court declared that access to and use of the internet is a fundamental right of every individual, including children, legal news outlet LiveLaw reported Saturday.

It said that a blanket ban on children's internet activity could make them vulnerable to greater risks rather than protect them from online abuse and exploitation. 

The Supreme Court also issued directions to bolster the processes for detecting and removing child sexual exploitation and abuse material (CSEAM) from social media and other online platforms, the report said. 

The court stressed that the right to freedom of speech and expression also incorporates the right to know, receive and impart information and ideas, LiveLaw reported.

The two-judge bench described the internet as a "marketplace of ideas, creative expression and information" and said that its value went beyond the material it contains, as it provides opportunities for children in remote areas and those with disabilities. 

"For many children, particularly in remote areas, it is often the only source of learning and information," the court said, according to LiveLaw.

For children with special needs, the internet is often the only platform where they can find company with others like them, the court said. 

The court acknowledged that the internet, in its current form, poses safety risks to children. But it said that keeping children away from the internet because of failures by platforms and the relevant authorities to detect and remove harmful content would amount to mistaking the victim for the problem, LiveLaw reported. 

What did the court say on blanket restrictions on internet use for children?

The Supreme Court said that a legal ban would not stop children from using the internet, and that they could move to other unregulated platforms.

"Any blanket restriction on the access of internet by children is nothing more than unproven measures of proven disproportionality," LiveLaw cited the court as saying.

The Supreme Court called for safeguards to ensure online child safety and the regulation of content accessible to children. 

It suggested measures such as a "child mode" for social media accounts, LiveLaw said.

Saturday's Supreme Court judgement comes amid a global debate on the ban of social media for children over risks from harmful content. Australia declared the world's first social media ban for  under-16s last year.

France followed suit this summer, before its Constitutional Court blocked the move.

October 17, 2026

US lawmakers urge Marco Rubio to bring up India protest crackdown

Six lawmakers from the United States' Democratic Party have called on US Secretary of State Marco Rubioto raise India's handling of the youth protests during his visit next week. 

The US representatives include Pramila Jayapal, Ilhan Omar, Jim McGovern, Rashida Tlaib, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Jesus Garcia. 

"As the world's largest democracies, the US and India have an obligation to promote and defend the rights to freedom of assembly and expression," Jayapal wrote on X, sharing a letter addressed to Rubio. 

The letter alleges a "pattern of repression, wrongful detention, and excessive use of force by security forces" during the student protests in Delhi and other parts of the country.

The lawmakers also highlight incidents of "apparent surveillance," saying that they had received reports that the Indian diplomatic missions in the US "hired photographers to surveil protesters on American soil."

"These incidents raise particular alarm in light of India's documented pattern of engaging in transnational repression, including through the weaponization of consular services, harassment, intimidation, and physical violence," the letter said. 

The group urged Rubio to prioritize the issues in his discussion with Indian officials.

The US Secretary of State is visiting India early next week, after traveling to Uzbekistan.

He is slated to meet Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar in Mumbai. His agenda also shows a trip to Jamnagar in the western state of Gujarat.

October 17, 2026

Student leader Neha Bora released from detention

All India Students' Association (AISA) President Neha Bora, who was also detained during the latest protest in New Delhi on Friday was released later in the night. 

Bora has emerged as a prominent face in the protests against India's top poll official. 

Speaking to the media after her release, Bora called for Dipke and other protesters to be released, saying that they had been "illegally detained".

"They are ordinary citizens demanding accountability and their right to vote. Carrying out such illegal detentions and keeping people at the police station overnight makes no sense at all," Bora said. 

A widespread review exercise — called Special Intensive Revision (SIR) — has struck off over 130 million names from India's electoral rolls since it began last year.

Opposition leaders and critics say that those removed from the voter lists include a large proportion of minority voters. They accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist BJP of using the exercise as a tool to secure future electoral gains.

The neutrality of the Election Commission of India (ECI) is being questioned.

The ECI denies favoring any party. It says the SIR removes deceased, relocated and duplicate voters and also helps in preventing the inclusion of "foreign illegal immigrants." 

Youth being made 'pawns' — BJP

Modi's party has slammed its opponents for undermining democracy and has denounced the protests as attempts to create "anarchy". 

BJP's Rajnath Singh — who is also India's defense minister — addressed the protests at a press conference on Friday. 

Singh accused the opposition, led by the Congress party, of wanting to bring a "regime change along the lines of Bangladesh" and using Indian youth as "pawns in the politics of disorder."

"It appears that the Congress and its political allies, both directly and through their affiliated organisations, are attempting to channel the energy of young people not into constructive activities and nation-building, but into instruments of political confrontation and the spread of chaos," he said.

October 17, 2026

CJP's Dipke arrested after detention — reports

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) Founder Abhijeet Dipke has been arrested, following his detention on Friday when he stepped out to participate in a rally he had called in New Delhi, media reports said.

Dipke was arrested to ‌prevent a ⁠breach ⁠of the peace and will be taken before a Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) court later today, news agencies ANI and PTI reported. 

CJP legal affairs head Ratna Singh also said that Dipke had been arrested, adding that he would appear before the SEM court in central Delhi's Mandir Marg at 12 p.m. (630 UTC).

Singh claimed that Dipke's lawyers had not met him. 

The 'Cockroach' movement said early on Saturday that they did not know where their founder had been detained, calling his detention a "kidnapping."

"Until now, neither his parents nor his lawyers and not the CJP team have been given any updates about his location," the CJP said on X, as it published a video of CJP leader Ajinkya Shinde asking about Dipke's whereabouts. 

Dipke was detained publicly on Friday as he left the house in Jhandewalan where he was staying to take part in CJP's 'Lehra Do Tiranga' (Wave the tricolor) protest rally in Connaught Place.

Videos of his detention showed the CJP founder being told by a police official that he was being placed under "preventive detention" before he was taken to a police car.

Dipke was seen displaying India's flag as police and media personnel surrounded him. Some supporters were seen trying to block the police vehicle from driving away with Dipke. 

Just hours earlier, a group of Delhi Police officials had visited the 31-year-old at the Jhandewalan residence and served him a notice barring the Friday protest. 

The Delhi Police had previously reiterated that Section 163 of India's criminal procedure law, which prohibits any form of assembly or protest, was in force in the Connaught Place area.

"The manner in which he was picked up from right outside his residence, no information about his whereabouts, and the fact that even his lawyers have been unable to meet him raise serious concerns about due process and fundamental rights," Singh wrote on X.

Even after Dipke's detention, hundreds of protesters turned up in Connaught Place defying the heavy security deployment. The protesters were seen waving the Indian national flag as part of the CJP's 'Tricolor' rally. According to police, some 150 protesters were detained during the demonstrations.

The fresh protests came after CJP co-conveners Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das were sent to a five-day detention in jail on Wednesday for alleged violation of prohibitory orders and breach of a peace bond after they attempted a demonstration.  They too were carrying the Indian tricolor and the flag has since been at the center of CJP's campaign.

The Indian flag "belongs to the 1.3 billion people of this country and not the Delhi police. We will wave it where we want!" the movement has said.

Dipke, Das and Ranka were earlier detained on October 10 from a plane as they arrived in the capital for a protest march calling for the resignation of India's Chief Election Commionser Gyanesh Kumar over alleged manipulation of voter lists.

 They were released after nearly 24 hours.

October 17, 2026

Welcome to our coverage

This is Dharvi Vaid Dhulia from DW's studio in New Delhi, bringing you the weekend edition of the India blog, where we break down all the biggest headlines that are creating a buzz in the country. 

The world's largest democracy has seen almost daily protests since the start of October. The youth-led 'Cockroach' movement, opposition parties, student organizations and civil society members are calling for India's election chief to step down over a sweeping revision of voter rolls that they say benefits Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

On Friday, another protest called by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) at a key business district in the heart of Delhi culminated in detentions. 

CJP Founder Abhijeet Dipke was taken away in a police car even before he could get to the protest location. It was the second time that Dipke was detained in less than a week. 

Reports now say that the 'Cockroach' founder has been arrested following his detention, and is due to appear before a Special Executive Magistrate court today.

With protests being prohibited and demonstrations ending in detentions, the stir over accountability and electoral reform has also sparked a debate over the public's right to protest. 

Meanwhile, a group of Democratic lawmakers in the US have called on Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is visiting India next week, to raise with Indian officials the alleged wrongful detentions and excessive use of force during the student protests in New Delhi and other parts of the country.

Stay with us as we bring you all this and more.