What Copwatch India is
A civic accountability and public education project working towards more transparent, lawful, and rights-respecting policing in India.
In India, many people have come to accept police brutality as a baseline reality. Public beatings, custodial torture, illegal detention, humiliation, and arbitrary force are often treated as normal, or as something the victim invited. Copwatch India exists to challenge that.
Police brutality is not justice. Custodial violence is not investigation. Public beating is not discipline. Humiliation is not law enforcement. A uniform confers authority, not immunity. And rights are not rewards for good behaviour — they are limits on state power. If the police can unlawfully abuse one person today, that same power can be used against anyone tomorrow.
Our objectives
Copwatch India aims to bring police brutality into mainstream public discourse and challenge the idea that custodial violence, public beatings, and abuse of power are normal or acceptable parts of Indian life.
Our objectives are to:
- Create public awareness about police brutality and police misconduct in India.
- Document reported and alleged incidents of police brutality and misconduct across India.
- Educate citizens about their rights during arrest, detention, custody, questioning, and other interactions with law enforcement.
- Maintain a structured database of reported police misconduct.
- Help victims and families understand the lawful complaint mechanisms and legal remedies available to them.
- Build a support network of lawyers, journalists, human rights workers, researchers, technologists, translators, and local volunteers to strengthen this work over time.
- Publish anonymised reports, data, and evidence showing the scale, geography, categories, and patterns of reported police abuse across India.
- Advocate institutional reforms that protect citizens, strengthen due process, reduce abuse of power, and support honest police officers who follow the law.
How we work
Copwatch India works through documentation, lawful remedy, and public education. Every case has a verification status, while institutional actions are recorded separately. Material is published with an assessed basis, redaction, and purpose. We do not obstruct lawful police work, and we do not support revenge, doxxing, or mob action — not because we are cautious, but because vigilantism produces neither accountability nor justice.
Accountability serves honest police officers as much as it serves the public. Where abuse goes unrecorded, suspicion falls on everyone in uniform.
If police conduct affected you or someone you know, or you found an already-public source that may be relevant, you can submit an incident for staff review. Reporting is separate from volunteering below — you do not need to join the network to submit a report.
Help build the support network
We are building a network of lawyers, journalists, human rights workers, researchers, technologists, translators, and local coordinators. See the ways you can contribute and tell us where your experience fits.