India Rejects UN Human Rights Expert's Report, Questions Reliance on Unverified Claims

PTI, Oct 17, 2026, United Nations: India has rejected as "hearsay" a report by a UN human rights expert that has taken note of the "satirical political movement" created by the country's youth, with New Delhi calling on the expert to "verify" before vilifying issues using unverified claims.

First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, Anuj Swarup, delivered the national statement at the 81st Session of the UNGA Third Committee during the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.

Swarup voiced objection to the report of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, Gina Romero, calling out her assertion that young people in India face retaliation or stigmatisation for discussing mental health or gender justice.

Swarup said Romero merely cited "unnamed submissions" in a footnote.

"A sweeping charge against the world's largest youth population, resting on anonymous and unverified claims, is not evidence. It is hearsay dressed up as a UN report, and my delegation rejects it outright," he said.

"A mandate holder who relies on anonymous inputs to generalise for 1.4 billion people does a disservice to the very mandate she holds. We urge this Special Rapporteur to verify before she vilifies and to bring the required rigour and fairness in her reports," he said.

In her report, Romero notes that in India, young people created a "satirical political movement", a reference to the Cockroach Janata Party, and said that "young people from India reported retaliation or stigmatisation for discussing mental health or gender justice".

Swarup further emphasised that "this level of arbitrary report writing is precisely the reason that the United Nations and its institutions have lost credibility".

He said that in India, these freedoms, together with freedom of speech and expression, are guaranteed to every citizen under Article 19 of the Constitution and are protected by an independent judiciary, a free press and an empowered National Human Rights Commission.