US lawmakers urge Trump official to discuss police excesses on protesters during India visit

Six United States lawmakers, including Pramila Jayapal and Ilhan Omar, have urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to raise with Indian authorities concerns about alleged police excesses against those protesting to demand Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and the suspension of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

Rubio will be visiting Mumbai and Jamnagar between October 19 and October 22. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will travel to Mumbai to meet the Trump official on October 20.

In a social media post on Saturday, Indian-born Jayapal said that the US and India have an obligation to defend human rights as the world’s largest democracies.

In a letter addressed to Rubio on Friday, Jayapal, Omar, Jim McGovern, Rashida Tlaib, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Jesus Garcia expressed concern about a “pattern of repression, wrongful detention, and excessive use of force” by authorities in India during nationwide protests to demand Kumar’s resignation.

This came against the backdrop of protests in the national capital and other parts of the country since October 2 over concerns about the functioning of the Election Commission and its handling of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

On October 10, around 7,000 protesters in Delhi were detained and allegedly assaulted for taking part in the demonstrations.

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