Protesters who breached India’s parliament say they were tortured and made to sign blank confessions

Protesters charged under India’s stringent anti-terror law say they were asked to reveal social media passwords

Five of the six people arrested for allegedly breaching the security of Indian parliament told a court they were tortured by the police into confessing their association with opposition political parties.

The accused said they were given electric shocks and were forced to sign about 70 blank pages in an application to a court in Delhi on Wednesday.

The six people were arrested after a major security breach on 13 December. Two men entered the chamber of members of parliament, shouted slogans, and set off smoke canisters. Two people were arrested for raising slogans and setting off smoke bombs outside the house. Two others were arrested for hatching the plot and destroying the evidence in the case.

They have claimed that they were protesting over unemployment, violence in the Indian state of Manipur and other pressing issues afflicting the country, according to reports.

The police charged them under anti-terror law, known as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and said that the breach was a “well-planned conspiracy”.

The five accused who submitted their application to Patiala House Court on Wednesday were: Manoranjan D, Sagar Sharma, Lalit Jha, Amol Shinde, and Mahesh Kumawat.

The applications said the “accused were forced to sign about 70-odd blank pages at different places of each page”.

“Also, they were tortured, given electric shocks to sign and confess the commission of crime under UAPA and their association with national political parties,” it said.

It alleged two of the accused people were “forced to write on the paper about their association with the political party/leader of the opposition political party”.

They were also asked to reveal all their online social media account passwords, email account passwords and phone passwords, they alleged.

Another accused, Neelam Azad, told a court in her earlier hearing that an officer forced her to sign 52 blank papers. The judge extended the judicial custody of all the accused till 1 March and a hearing on the application was scheduled for 17 February.

The court has asked the Delhi police to submit its response to the allegations.