Amnesty International, the human rights group, has suspended its operations in India. This comes after its accounts in that country were frozen by the Indian government.
A law enforcement agency, the Enforcement Directorate, which investigates economic crimes, froze the body’s accounts earlier this month. This comes after Amnesty had released two reports which were heavily critical of the government of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
One report had been on conditions in the restive Kashmir region while the other examined the government’s role in anti-Muslim pogroms which had broken out in Delhi in February, which left over 50 people dead.
According to the Financial Times Amnesty said this was the culmination of a two-year period of harassment from the Indian government. Amnesty said this also meant it had to retrench all 140 staff members in India.
The Modi government has been cracking down on civil society groups which it believes tarnishes its image.
There have been concerns about human rights and democracy in India, following the election of Narendra Modi and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party to power in 2014.
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