United Nations, Oct 21 (IANS) — India has said it opposes the use of human rights as a political tool that relies on unverified allegations to selectively target countries, even as it continues to engage with international human rights mechanisms. "India firmly opposes any attempt to convert unverified allegations, incomplete statistics or a report that contains no India country (-specific) observation into a negative characterisation of the world's largest democracy," Barkha Tamrakar, a deputy secretary in the External Affairs Ministry's UN Economic Social Division, said on Tuesday (local time), news agency IANS reported.

Tamrakar was delivering India's statement at the UN General Assembly's Third Committee, which deals with humanitarian affairs, during an interactive dialogue with Juan Pablo Alban Alencastro, chair of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances, and Grazyna Baranowska, chair-rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. Engagement with human rights mechanisms "must be based on dialogue, consultation, cooperation with non-selectivity and transparency as guiding principles," she said, adding: "'Human rights' must not be used as an instrument of political pressure or selective country targeting." She called on delegations to "cite the report faithfully, not to inflate a humanitarian communication into a verdict," and said India remains prepared to clarify specific, properly documented cases through established channels.

Pointing to domestic safeguards, Tamrakar said India is a vibrant democracy anchored in the rule of law, that Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees the right to life and personal liberty, and that the independent judiciary can issue habeas corpus writs against any alleged disappearance, PTI reported via The Hindu BusinessLine. She also cited the National and State Human Rights Commissions, the Right to Information Act, independent media and civil society as safeguards, and noted that India has signed the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. The remarks came as more than 20 UN human rights experts in Geneva expressed alarm on Tuesday over what they described as a heavy-handed police response to recent youth-led protests in New Delhi — concerns India has rejected, saying law enforcement acted in accordance with the law.

(Sources: IANS, via AsiaPost, October 21, 2026; PTI, via The Hindu BusinessLine, October 21, 2026; DevDiscourse, October 21, 2026)