People’s Union for Democratic Rights

A civil liberties and democratic rights organisation based in Delhi, India

The civil rights movement in India has emerged as an autonomous voice in defense of civil liberties and democratic rights of our people. The Peoples Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi, is one such organisation. It came into existence in 1977 as the Delhi unit of a larger national forum, PUCLDR, and became PUDR on 1 February, 1981.

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“Close to the one-year anniversary of violence in Nuh district, Haryana, PUDR released its report on ongoing state repression in the aftermath of July 31, 2023. Justice Madan Lokur (retd., Supreme Court) and Professor Manoranjan Mohanty (retd., Delhi University) launched “In the wake of Nuh: A report on state repression” on July 29, 2024 at Press Club of India.

Justice Lokur emphasised the importance of civil society reports like PUDR’s to archive incidents like Nuh, particularly when there is no judicial inquiry. Professor Mohanty highlighted the new face of communalised state repression that incidents like Nuh represent.”

Latest Publications

Latest Press Statements

Condemn Fascism in the Name of Nationalism

PUDR strongly condemns the Delhi Police for arresting the JNU students’ union president, Kanhaiya Kumar today, 12th February, on charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy for holding a protest demonstration on February 9th against the judicial hanging of Afzal Guru,...

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PUDR salutes Professor Randhir Singh

Peoples Union for Democratic Rights mourns the death of Professor Randhir Singh, who passed away on Sunday 31st January, 2016. He was teacher par excellence to many, guide and philosopher to many more. For us he spanned the pre and post 1947 India which was marked not...

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Admission opens a can of worms

On 23rd July 2009, the Manipur police claimed to have had an encounter with a ‘PLA cadre’ Sanjit, as a result of which Sanjit died. While this version was widely contested by the local people who claimed that Sanjit was murdered in a cold-blooded manner, a set of...

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