On December 21,2023 the Kerala police used water cannons to disperse the protestors and then used brutal force on the protestors (KSU)  which resulted in 15 arrests and 3 of them were seriously injured.. This protest was organised condemning the alleged attacks on KSU and Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) members.

It is to be noted that brutal lathi charge by the police and arrest of the student activists is against the constitution. The Right to Protest is recognized under International instruments including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Article 8).

The Right to protest is an essential element of the right to participate in any democratic dispensation and the restriction on this right must be scrutinized with respect to their necessity and reasonableness. HRDA condemned the action and urgently appealed to NHRC to exercise Section 12 (a) of the Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Act, 2019, and take suo moto cognizance of this incident and initiate an independent inquiry through NHRC’s investigation wing.