According to sources on 4 October, 2019, around 7.30 am,a delegation of senior activists and globally recognised faces of Indian environmental and peace movementfacilitated by National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) landed at Srinagar airport in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The team included Lucknow’s Ramon Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey, Odisha’s Prafulla Samantara, winner of the Goldman Prize for his struggle against indiscriminate mining in the Niyamgiri Hills, Delhi’s Faisal Khan and Mohammed Javed, and Kerala’s Musthafa Mohamed of the Khudai Khidmatgar group. The team wasrestrained in the VIP lounge of the airport while they were preparing to visit the locked down Kashmir valley. The team was then forcibly sent back to Delhi on two separate commercial flights filled with soldiers between 4 and 4.30pm in the evening. They were detained at the airport on the orders of he Budgam district executive magistrate. According to sources individual notices in the name of Prafulla Samantara, Faisal Khan and Sandeep Pandey wereissued by District Magistrate of Budgam. The notice issued referred to “credible inputs” from various agencies that they intended to organise protests in different parts of Kashmir on the issue of abrogation of Article 370 and the withdrawal of special status ofJammu and Kashmir which could pose a threat to law and ordersituation in Kashmir. The notice also said that their entry into Jammu & Kashmir is being restricted till further orders. In a press conference held at Press Club of Indiain Delhi on 5 October, 2019, the returned activists informed that they had gone on a two-day visit to meet Kashmiri people and extend humanitarian assistance and solidarity to the communities in distress. The police at the spot told hem they would be arrested under prohibitory orders —Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code — which was in force in the Kashmir Valley. Countering the government’s claim that there was no curfew, the activists told the fact is that with Section 144 of CrPC in force people were not free to move about freely and even the Kashmiri officers of J&K government were being subjected to frisking and security checks by Central security forces. Since removing several constitutional provisions in August 2019 Indian authorities have flooded the Kashmir Valley with thousands of additional troops. Mobile internet and phone services were cut and landline phone access remained spotty, disrupting daily life and business in the valley, home to about 7 million people. More than 2,000 people, including mainstream political leaders, have been locked up or under house arrest. Kashmir Valley was placed under curfew, with severe restrictions on freedom of movement and ban on association and assembly of more than four people. There were strict restrictions on the movements of journalists, media reporters and publishers, resulting in a virtual blackout and a complete lockdown. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration proclaims the right to freedom of expression, which includes freedom “to seek, receive and impart information and idea through any medium regardless of frontiers”. Further Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights sets forth the right to freedom of opinion, expression and information. The protection of human rights defenders is critical to ensure that they are able to work in a safe, supportive environment and be free from attacks and reprisals. Article 21 of the Constitution of India ensures to all its citizen right to life –a life to live without fear, intimidation, harassment or mental torture. Also, The Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted in 1998 by the UN General Assembly, states that governments are under a duty to “take all necessary measures to ensure the protection of human rights defenders by the competent authorities against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary actions” as a consequence of their efforts to promote human rights. Therefore, the government is bound by its international legal obligations to ensure that all activists and human rights defenders are provided with security against harassment or intimidation so that they may enjoy their constitutional right to due process, life and liberty under Article 21, and the right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India. In the present case, interception of the human rights defenders and detaining them is an attempt to harass and intimidate the members of National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM)’s delegation led by prominent social activists and human rights defenders including Ramon Magsaysay Award winner, Dr. Sandeep Pandey, Prafulla Samantara of Lok Shakti Abhiyan, Odisha, Mr. Faisal Khan and Mohammed Javed from Delhi and Kerala’s Musthafa Mohamed of the Khudai Khidmatgar who were prevented from entering the locked down Kashmir valleyamounting to blatant denialof their rights to liberty of movement and freedom of association guaranteed by the Indian constitutionand other international instruments.