Precedents
Each entry is one protest and one government's answer to it. Filter by the party in charge or by the kind of action taken.
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2024–26Ladakh statehood protests and Sonam Wangchuk's detention, 2024-2026BJP: Delhi Police, Ladakh (run by the Centre), Ladakh Police, CentreSection 144 / 163DetentionPermission deniedFiringCurfewInternet shutdownNSA detentionOtherConcessionNegotiationGroups in Ladakh, including the Leh Apex Body and the Kargil Democratic Alliance, demanded statehood and Sixth Schedule safeguards for the Union Territory. In September-October 2024 climate activist Sonam Wangchuk led a march from Ladakh to Delhi; Delhi Police detained him and about 120 others at the Singhu border and later refused permission for a protest at Jantar Mantar. On 24 September 2025 a protest in Leh turned violent: the BJP office was set on fire and four people died in firing by security forces (early counts ranged from three to five). A curfew and mobile internet shutdown followed, and on 26 September 2025 Wangchuk was detained under the National Security Act and moved to Jodhpur jail. The Centre revoked the detention on 14 March 2026.
2024–25Punjab farmers' Delhi Chalo march, 2024-2025BJP: Haryana, Delhi Police, Rajasthan, Centre; AAP: Delhi, PunjabBarricadingSection 144 / 163Internet shutdownTear gasNegotiationFiringCommission of inquiryOtherIn February 2024 farm unions from Punjab, with leaders including Sarwan Singh Pandher and Jagjit Singh Dallewal, began a march to Delhi demanding a legal guarantee of minimum support prices (MSP), loan waivers and other measures. The BJP government in Haryana sealed its border with Punjab at Shambhu and Khanauri with multi-layered concrete barricades, police used tear gas (including shells dropped from drones) and rubber bullets, and mobile internet was suspended in several Haryana districts. Union ministers held several rounds of talks. A young farmer, Shubhkaran Singh, died at Khanauri in February 2024; the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered a judicial inquiry and later ordered Shambhu to be unblocked. Farmers stayed at the border points until the Punjab government cleared them in March 2025.
2023–26Manipur ethnic violence and internet shutdown, 2023-2025BJP: Manipur, CentreInternet shutdownOtherCommission of inquiryTear gasOn 3 May 2023 a Tribal Solidarity March called by the All Tribal Students Union Manipur against a proposed Scheduled Tribe status for the Meitei community was followed by violence between Meitei and Kuki-Zo groups across Manipur. The BJP state government under N. Biren Singh imposed curfews, an order issued in the Governor's name authorised magistrates to issue shoot-at-sight orders in extreme cases, the army and central forces were deployed, and mobile and broadband internet were suspended statewide for months. Whether the Centre formally invoked Article 355 is contested. The Supreme Court intervened from May 2023 and in August 2023 appointed a committee of three former judges on violence against women and relief, and a former police chief to supervise investigations. Amnesty International put the toll at more than 250 killed and over 60,000 displaced by February 2025. Biren Singh resigned in February 2025 and President's Rule was in force until February 2026.
2023Wrestlers' protest at Jantar Mantar, 2023BJP: Centre, Delhi Police, HaryanaCommission of inquiryOtherFIRDetentionNegotiationIn January 2023 Olympic medallists Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia led a sit-in at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, accusing Wrestling Federation of India president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexually harassing women wrestlers; he denied the allegations. The sit-in ended after the Sports Ministry set up an oversight committee, and resumed in April 2023 when its report was not made public. Delhi Police registered FIRs against Singh after the matter reached the Supreme Court, detained the wrestlers on 28 May 2023 as they marched towards the new Parliament building, cleared the protest site and booked them for rioting. The street protest ended in June 2023 after a chargesheet was filed.
2022Protests against the Agnipath military recruitment scheme, June 2022BJP: Centre, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Assam; JD(U): Bihar; BRS: Telangana; JMM: Jharkhand; CPI(M): Kerala; INC: RajasthanTear gasConcessionInternet shutdownFiringSection 144 / 163FIROtherThe Union government announced the Agnipath scheme on 14 June 2022. It recruits people aged 17.5 to 21 into the armed forces for four-year terms, with about a quarter retained. Job aspirants protested from 15-16 June in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and other states. Protesters set train coaches on fire, attacked BJP offices and blocked rail lines. The East Central Railway said more than 60 coaches were burnt in Bihar. Estimates of railway losses differ: India Today, citing the East Central Railway, put losses in Bihar at about Rs 700 crore, and the Railway Minister told the Rajya Sabha in July 2022 that damage to railway assets in the agitation came to Rs 259.44 crore. The Centre raised the 2022 age limit to 23 and announced 10% reservations for Agniveers in the Central Armed Police Forces, the Assam Rifles and Defence Ministry posts, but did not withdraw the scheme.
2020–21Farm laws protest, 2020-2021BJP: Haryana, Centre; AAP: DelhiBarricadingTear gasNegotiationConcessionOtherInternet shutdownRepealFarmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, marched to Delhi from 26 November 2020 to demand repeal of three farm laws passed in 2020. Haryana police met the march with barricades, trenches, tear gas and water cannon, and farmers then camped at Delhi's borders for about a year. Eleven rounds of talks failed, and the Supreme Court stayed the laws in January 2021. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the repeal on 19 November 2021, Parliament passed the repeal bill on 29 November 2021, and farmers left the protest sites on 11 December 2021.
2019–20Anti-CAA protests and the Shaheen Bagh sit-in, December 2019 - March 2020BJP: Delhi Police, Uttar Pradesh, KarnatakaLathi chargeTear gasFiringSection 144 / 163Internet shutdownOtherUAPA chargeProtests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 spread across India in December 2019. Delhi Police entered the Jamia Millia Islamia campus on 15 December 2019, and the same day a sit-in led largely by women closed the Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh road in Delhi. Uttar Pradesh, governed by the BJP under Yogi Adityanath, imposed Section 144 statewide, suspended mobile internet in many districts and demanded payment for property damage from protesters. Delhi Police cleared Shaheen Bagh on 24 March 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown, and the Supreme Court later held that public ways cannot be occupied indefinitely for protest.
2019–21Jammu and Kashmir lockdown after the abrogation of Article 370, 2019-2021BJP: Jammu and Kashmir (President’s Rule), Jammu and Kashmir (run by the Centre)Internet shutdownSection 144 / 163House arrestDetentionOtherConcessionOn 4-5 August 2019, as Parliament moved to read down Article 370 and split Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories, authorities cut mobile, internet, landline and cable TV services in the Kashmir Valley, imposed Section 144 orders, and detained mainstream political leaders, including three former chief ministers. Former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were later held under the Public Safety Act. The Supreme Court ruled in January 2020 that indefinite internet suspension is not permitted and ordered a review of the orders. Mobile internet returned at 2G speed in January 2020, and 4G across the union territory in February 2021.
2018Thoothukudi anti-Sterlite protest and police firing, May 2018AIADMK: Tamil Nadu; DMK: Tamil NaduSection 144 / 163FiringDetentionInternet shutdownCommission of inquiryOtherResidents of Thoothukudi (Tuticorin) protested against the expansion of Vedanta's Sterlite Copper smelter. A prohibitory order under Section 144 CrPC was passed on the night of 21 May 2018. On 22 May police opened fire after clashes, and one more person was shot on 23 May; the police said 13 people died and 102 were injured. The Tamil Nadu government suspended internet in three districts, appointed retired High Court judge Aruna Jagadeesan to inquire, and ordered the plant shut on 28 May 2018. The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court later handed the investigation to the CBI. The commission's report, tabled in October 2022, found the firing unprovoked.
2017Jallikattu protests in Tamil Nadu, January 2017AIADMK: Tamil Nadu; BJP: CentreNegotiationConcessionOtherLathi chargeTear gasSection 144 / 163Commission of inquiryFrom 16 January 2017 students and youth gathered in Alanganallur and then on Marina Beach, Chennai, to demand that jallikattu be allowed despite a Supreme Court ban. The AIADMK government obtained Union clearance for an ordinance, promulgated on 21 January, and the Assembly passed a replacement Act on 23 January. On the morning of 23 January police evicted the Marina crowd and used lathis and tear gas during clashes. Police later imposed Section 144 on the Marina, and the state set up a commission of inquiry into the violence.
2016Kashmir unrest after the killing of Burhan Wani, 2016PDP: Jammu and Kashmir; BJP: CentreCurfewInternet shutdownCensorshipFiringCommission of inquirySecurity forces killed Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in Kokernag, Anantnag, on 8 July 2016. Mass protests followed across the Kashmir Valley. The PDP-BJP state government imposed curfew and other restrictions, mobile internet and phone networks were suspended, and newspaper printing was halted for several days, while security forces used pellet guns on crowds. The Union Home Minister announced an expert committee on alternatives to pellet guns on 21 July.
2016–21JNU sedition case, February 2016BJP: Delhi Police; AAP: DelhiFIRSedition chargeCommission of inquiryOtherOn 9 February 2016 students at Jawaharlal Nehru University held an event on the hanging of Afzal Guru at which slogans were allegedly raised. Delhi Police registered a sedition FIR on 11 February and arrested JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar on 12 February. After lawyers sent by the Supreme Court reported that he was manhandled at Patiala House court, the Court made the Delhi Police Commissioner responsible for his safety, and the Delhi High Court granted him interim bail on 2 March. Delhi Police filed a chargesheet in January 2019, the Delhi government granted prosecution sanction in February 2020, and a magistrate took cognizance in February 2021.
2016Jat reservation agitation in Haryana, February 2016BJP: Haryana, CentreInternet shutdownSection 144 / 163NegotiationCurfewOtherFiringFIRCommission of inquiryJat groups seeking OBC reservation blocked highways and rail lines across Haryana from 7 February 2016, and the agitation turned violent in Rohtak, Jhajjar and other districts from 18 February. District authorities stopped mobile internet, issued prohibitory orders and imposed curfews, and the state called in the Army and central paramilitary forces. A committee under former DGP Prakash Singh, appointed by the state, counted 30 dead and 208 injured; news reports gave 320 injured. Singh said its report of 13 May 2016 identified about 90 officials guilty of deliberate negligence.
2012December 2012 Delhi gang-rape protestsINC: Delhi Police, CentreTear gasSection 144 / 163Lathi chargeBarricadingDetentionCommission of inquiryAfter the gang rape of a physiotherapy student on a Delhi bus on 16 December 2012, crowds gathered at India Gate and Raisina Hill. On 22 and 23 December police used water cannon, tear gas and lathis, imposed Section 144 and closed central metro stations and roads. A police constable deployed at India Gate died on 25 December; the cause of his death was disputed. The Union government set up the Justice Verma Committee on 23 December to recommend changes to criminal law on sexual assault.
2011India Against Corruption fast and Anna Hazare arrestINC: Delhi PolicePermission deniedSection 144 / 163Preventive arrestDetentionOn 15 August 2011 Delhi Police refused permission for Anna Hazare's indefinite fast for a Jan Lokpal Bill at JP Park and imposed prohibitory orders there. On 16 August police arrested Hazare hours before the fast was to begin. He refused to give a personal bond and stayed in Tihar Jail for three nights while police and his team negotiated the terms of a fast. He left Tihar on 19 August under an agreement that allowed a fast at Ramlila Maidan.
2011Ramlila Maidan midnight police action on Baba Ramdev's campINC: Delhi Police, CentrePermission grantedNegotiationPermission deniedSection 144 / 163Tear gasLathi chargeDetentionOtherBaba Ramdev's Bharat Swabhiman Trust held a permitted yoga camp at Ramlila Maidan from 1 June 2011 and turned it into a fast against black money on 4 June. Late that night Delhi Police withdrew the permission, imposed a Section 144 order and cleared the ground after midnight with tear gas; one participant, Rajbala, later died of her injuries. The Supreme Court took suo motu notice and in February 2012 found that the action suffered from arbitrariness and, to some extent, abuse of power, and ordered compensation and action against police personnel.
2009–11Telangana statehood agitation (2009 to 2011)INC: Andhra Pradesh, CentrePreventive arrestConcessionOtherNegotiationCommission of inquiryPermission deniedK. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), president of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now BRS), was arrested on 29 November 2009 on his way to begin a fast-unto-death for a separate Telangana state, and began the fast in custody. Student protests at Osmania University and a region-wide agitation followed. The Centre announced on 9 December 2009 that it would initiate the process of forming Telangana, then on 23 December 2009 called for wider consultations after resignations by legislators from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. The agitation continued through the Srikrishna Committee (2010), the Million March at Tank Bund (10 March 2011) and the 42-day Sakala Janula Samme general strike (13 September to 24 October 2011).
2007–08Gujjar reservation agitation in Rajasthan, 2007 and 2008BJP: RajasthanFiringOtherNegotiationCommission of inquiryConcessionNSA detentionGujjars in Rajasthan, led by retired Colonel Kirori Singh Bainsla and the Gujjar Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti, blocked highways and rail lines in May-June 2007 and again in May-June 2008 to demand Scheduled Tribe status. Police firing at Patoli (Dausa), Bundi and Bonli in 2007 and at Pilupura near Bayana (Bharatpur) and Sikandra in 2008 killed dozens of people; the Army and central paramilitary forces were deployed both years. The Vasundhara Raje government set up the Justice Jasraj Chopra committee in 2007, and in June 2008 agreed to a 5 per cent reservation for Gujjars and other communities as a special backward class, which the Rajasthan High Court later stayed.
2006–08Singur and Nandigram land acquisition protestsCPI(M): West Bengal; INC: CentreSection 144 / 163FiringCommission of inquiryConcessionOtherBetween 2006 and 2008 the Left Front government of West Bengal acquired about 997 acres at Singur (Hooghly) for a Tata Motors small car plant and planned a chemical hub and special economic zone on about 10,000 acres at Nandigram (East Midnapore). Farmers, the Trinamool Congress and allied groups resisted both. The state used prohibitory orders, police deployment and, at Nandigram on 14 March 2007, police firing that killed 14 people. The Nandigram project was dropped in March 2007, and Tata Motors left Singur in October 2008.
2006Anti-reservation protests (Youth for Equality), 2006INC: CentreOtherNegotiationConcessionIn April 2006 Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh announced a plan to reserve 27 per cent of seats for Other Backward Classes in centrally funded institutions such as the IITs, IIMs and AIIMS. Medical students in Delhi, organised as Youth for Equality, marched, boycotted classes and began a hunger strike at AIIMS; resident doctors struck from 12 May and the agitation spread to Mumbai and other cities. Police used water cannon and tear gas in Delhi, where students said they were also beaten with lathis and police denied a lathi charge, and caned protesters in Mumbai; the Centre formed a Group of Ministers and an oversight committee, and the Supreme Court took suo motu notice and the strike ended on 31 May 2006. Parliament passed the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act in December 2006 and the Supreme Court upheld it in 2008.
2006–07Kalinganagar police firingBJD: OdishaTear gasFiringCurfewOtherConcessionCommission of inquiryBarricadingSection 144 / 163On 2 January 2006, police at Kalinganagar in Jajpur district, Orissa (now Odisha), fired on Adivasi villagers who were opposing construction of a boundary wall for a proposed Tata Steel plant on land acquired by the state's industrial development corporation. The state government's count was 12 villagers and one police havildar killed; later reports give 13 or 14 villagers as injured people died. The BJD-BJP state government ordered a judicial inquiry, raised ex gratia payments and transferred the district collector and superintendent of police, while the Bisthapan Virodhi Jan Manch blockaded the Daitari-Paradip highway (NH-200) for about 14 months.
1994–99Enron Dabhol power project protestsSS: Maharashtra; INC: MaharashtraCommission of inquiryConcessionOtherVillagers of Guhagar taluka in Ratnagiri district, Maharashtra, and activists from across India protested against the Dabhol Power Company plant promoted by Enron, with the largest actions in 1997. The Shiv Sena-BJP state government had suspended the project in August 1995 after a cabinet sub-committee review, then accepted a renegotiated agreement in January 1996 and allowed construction to proceed. Police applied rolling prohibitory orders under Section 37 of the Bombay Police Act from January 1997, arrested several hundred protesters at a time, used lathi charges and tear gas, and district magistrates issued Section 144 orders barring Medha Patkar from Ratnagiri and Raigad districts and B.G. Kolse-Patil from Ratnagiri district. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International documented the response in 1997 and 1999.
1990Anti-Mandal agitation, 1990Janata Dal: Centre, Odisha, Bihar, Delhi PoliceOtherFiringOn 7 August 1990 Prime Minister V. P. Singh of the National Front government announced that it would implement the Mandal Commission report. An Office Memorandum of 13 August reserved 27 per cent of vacancies in civil posts and services under the Government of India for socially and educationally backward classes. Students across north India closed colleges, held bandhs and rallies and clashed with police. After Delhi student Rajeev Goswami set himself on fire on 19 September 1990, a wave of self-immolation and suicide attempts followed, and police fired on protesters in several states. On 1 October 1990 the Supreme Court stayed the memorandum.
1989–93Narmada Bachao Andolan and Sardar Sarovar, 1989-1993INC: CentreOtherThe Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), led by Medha Patkar with Baba Amte, opposed the Sardar Sarovar dam over displacement and environmental damage. From 25 December 1990 Patkar led a march from Madhya Pradesh towards the dam site; Gujarat police stopped it at Ferkuwa on the state border, and Patkar and others began a hunger strike there on 7 January 1991. In June 1991 the World Bank commissioned an independent review headed by Bradford Morse, whose June 1992 report found deficiencies in the Bank's appraisal and in the project's implementation; the Government of India and the Government of Gujarat did not accept it. On 29 March 1993 the Government of India asked the World Bank to cancel the rest of its loan and chose to complete the project on its own.
1974All-India railway strike 1974INC: Centre; Janata Party: CentrePreventive arrestOtherDetentionConcessionIn May 1974 railway workers under the National Coordination Committee for Railwaymen's Struggle (NCCRS), convened by George Fernandes, struck for about 20 days over bonus, hours of work and casual labour. The Indira Gandhi government said the strike was illegal, arrested Fernandes and thousands of workers under MISA and the Defence of India Rules, deployed paramilitary forces on the railways and dismissed or removed staff. The government later told the Rajya Sabha that 19,883 railwaymen had been arrested and 16,749 dismissed, removed or terminated. The strike was withdrawn on 27-28 May 1974 without a settlement; the Janata government announced the reinstatement of dismissed and suspended employees in March 1977.
1974–77JP movement and the Emergency, 1975-1977INC: Centre, Delhi Police, Uttar Pradesh; Janata Party: CentreOtherPreventive arrestDetentionCensorshipProperty demolitionFiringCommission of inquiryIn 1974 Jayaprakash Narayan called for a "total revolution" against the Indira Gandhi government. On 12 June 1975 the Allahabad High Court voided Indira Gandhi's election, and on 25 June 1975 JP addressed a rally at the Ramlila Grounds in Delhi, where, by the government's account, he appealed to the army and police not to obey orders they considered illegal. That night the President proclaimed an Emergency on the ground of internal disturbance. The Shah Commission later counted 34,988 detentions under MISA and 75,818 arrests under the Defence and Internal Security of India Rules. The press was censored, and the Emergency was revoked on 21 March 1977 after the Congress lost the general election. The Janata government then set up the Shah Commission to inquire into Emergency excesses.