07/08/2026
AILAJ Condemns the Attack on AISA President, Neha: Political Violence Against Women Protesters is an Assault on Constitutional Democracy.
The All India Lawyers Association for Justice (AILAJ) strongly condemns the attack on AISA President Neha and other student activists in Ranchi, Jharkhand, where they had joined the youth protesting against recruitment scams and repeated paper leaks. This was not an isolated act of hooliganism. It is part of a disturbing and escalating pattern of violence, intimidation and harassment directed against women who are exercising their constitutional rights to freedom of speech, peaceful assembly and political dissent.
One of the defining features of the recent nationwide youth movement against unemployment, recruitment scams and paper leaks has been the leadership of young women. Their participation has challenged deeply entrenched patriarchal notions that seek to confine women to passive and subordinate roles in public life.
The response to this assertion of women's democratic agency has followed an alarming pattern. Women protesters have faced organised online abuse, doxxing, threats of sexual violence, malicious criminal prosecutions and physical attacks. Shradha Singh was forced into hiding after sustained online harassment and r**e threats. Ruchika Singh, a fifteen-year-old student, was subjected to multiple FIRs while her identity was publicly exposed. The family of student leader Danish Ali was harassed. The physical attack on Neha in Ranchi is the latest manifestation of this systematic campaign of intimidation.
These attacks are not merely directed against individual activists. They strike at the heart of constitutional democracy. Violence against women participating in peaceful democratic movements violates the basic constitutional guarantees of equality and the prohibition against discrimination. The normalisation of such attacks, coupled with the failure of the State to prevent them and bring the perpetrators to justice, creates a chilling effect on democratic participation and weakens the rule of law itself.
AILAJ calls upon the Jharkhand Police to ensure a prompt, impartial and effective investigation into the attack, identify and prosecute all those responsible, and guarantee the safety of students and democratic protesters. Equally, governments at both the Centre and the States must desist from using criminal law, police action and orchestrated intimidation to suppress democratic movements.
Attempts to silence women through violence and fear cannot succeed. Every attack on women who lead democratic struggles only reinforces the urgency of defending constitutional freedoms, gender justice and the right of citizens to dissent without fear. Lawyers, civil society organisations and democratic forces must stand united against this growing pattern of political violence and reaffirm that constitutional rights cannot be surrendered to mob intimidation.
- *All India Lawyers Association for Justice (AILAJ)*
