For Gurkirat, a former Delhi University student now pursuing a Master’s in Sociology at Panjab University, Chandigarh, fear is no longer confined to what might happen to her. She worries about what the police might do to her parents.
Ms. Gurkirat, former president of the Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch, alleged that Delhi Police personnel have been visiting her parents’ home in Shivaji Enclave in New Delhi every seven to 10 days for several months, asking about her whereabouts and serving notices in connection with old cases, including defamation cases.
“Sometimes they come in civil dress with no ID,” she said. According to her, the personnel have told her parents, “If you can’t control your daughter, then we will do it in our way,”, and advised them to restrict her movements.
On August 6, 2026, when Ms. Gurkirat was visiting her parents in Delhi, she was arrested in connection with a case pertaining to the February 2026 protests over the University Grants Commission’s Equity Regulations at Delhi University, and granted bail on the same day. Police personnel subsequently told her, she alleged, that while she had secured bail in one case, “the next case will be a big Maoist case”.
Ms. Gurkirat’s account is among several from students who have participated in different protests over the past three years — from the July 20, 2026 demonstration at Jantar Mantar and the December 2025 protests over Delhi’s worsening air pollution to the 2023 agitation surrounding the screening of the BBC documentary India: The Modi Question. Students told The Hindu that police scrutiny has continued long after the demonstrations ended, describing a sustained pattern of harassment, surveillance, intimidation, and political labelling.
Students from different parts of the country said personnel have visited and contacted their families in Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Bengaluru.
Ilakkiya, 24, who completed her Master’s in Psychology and is preparing for a PhD in Delhi, alleged that the police reached her family in a remote village in Erode district of Tamil Nadu.
“Men claiming to be from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the police visited my parents twice. They told them that I was an ‘urban Naxalite’. My father is a small-scale farmer and does not understand English or Hindi and was intimidated by the warnings and terminology,” Ms. Ilakkiya said. She alleged that the police also contacted relatives with whom the family rarely interacted, spoke about their bank accounts, and warned them about police cases.
People claiming to be from the IB met her sister in Bengaluru, who was not involved in the protests, and warned her of serious consequences, Ms. Ilakkiya further alleged.
She was among the students picked up by the Delhi Police in March 2026 while preparing for a permitted programme of the Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Forum, a student-labour platform that was planning a public convention at Ambedkar Bhavan on March 31, Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom day.
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According to her, men in civilian clothes took the students to an unknown location, where they were kept for three days and subjected to “continuous harassment and intimidation”. They were released after habeas corpus proceedings were initiated before the Delhi High Court.
After the alleged detention, Ms. Ilakkiya said she remained fearful of being followed and monitored. She recalled encountering a police officer while appearing for her UGC-NET (National Eligibility Test) examination, which she said left her intimidated. She and her family continue to receive calls even six months after the March incident.
The latest such account comes from Avinash alias Kiran, a 21-year-old MSc Mathematics student at Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College in Delhi University. This week, his parents in Nimapada, Odisha, told him that police personnel had visited their residence and questioned them about how many First Information Reports (FIRs) had been registered against their son.
His father had been unwell and was not home when the personnel arrived, and they therefore approached a neighbour, who subsequently informed the family about the visit, Mr. Avinash said. The family was left fearful, he said, and was told to “keep him away from such activities”.
The Hindu has reached out to the Delhi Police for a response to the allegations. This report will be updated when a response is received.
Published – August 09, 2026 08:37 pm IST
