DYFI moves Supreme Court over alleged illegal detention and torture of activists

AA Rahim addresses the media at the Press Club at SIR. File | Photo credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

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

Mr Rahim claimed that the DYFI members were staging a peaceful protest when the police “pulled them off the road and forced them to board a bus”. He claimed that instead of going to the police station, the detainees were taken to a place without CCTV coverage.

According to Mr. Rahim, the detainees were then separated by gender and assaulted on the buses. Accusing the police of subjecting them to brutal treatment, he said: “These vehicles were nothing less than Guantánamo on wheels.”

Mr. Rahim further alleged that the police did not follow established legal procedures, including preparing arrest records, informing family members, conducting medical examinations of detainees and presenting them to magistrates.

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

The petition, he said, should highlight these alleged violations, seek an independent investigation into police action and urge the Supreme Court to set binding guidelines for detention during protests.

Senior advocate Arundhati Katju will argue the case and enrolled advocate Subhash Chandran KR will file it, Mr. Rahim said.

Published – 11 Oct 2026 21:04 IST