The Human Rights Watch slammed the BJP Govt at the Centre for its increasing harassment, arrests, and prosecution of rights defenders, activists, journalists, students, academics, and others critical of the government or its policies. The harassment of human rights defenders is on the rise in the country, with Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh leading with 26 cases in 2019-20 from 3 in 2017-18. While there were 73 cases of human rights violations in India in 2017-18, it increased to 89 in 2017-18 and 105 in 2019-20