Please join the Department of International Development at KCL for a book talk with Alpa Shah about her new book, "The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Indian Democracy". Dr Jay Raj will be joining the event as speaker. 

About the book

The world’s largest democracy is facing the greatest challenge since the end of British colonial rule in 1947.

The Incarcerations pulls back the curtain on Indian democracy to tell the remarkable and chilling story of the Bhima Koregaon case, in which 16 human rights defenders (the BK-16) – professors, lawyers, journalists, poets – have been imprisoned, without credible evidence and without trial, as Maoist terrorists.

Alpa Shah unravels how these alleged terrorists were charged with inciting violence at a year’s day commemoration in 2018, accused of waging a war against the Indian state, and plotting to kill the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Expertly leading us through the case, Shah exposes some of the world’s most shocking revelations of cyber warfare research, which show not only hacking of emails and mobile phones of the BK-16, but also implantation of the electronic evidence that was used to incarcerate them. Through the life histories of the BK-16, Shah dives deep into the issues they fought for and tells the story of India’s three main minorities – Adivasi, Dalits and Muslims – and what the search for democracy entails for them.

Essential and urgent, The Incarcerations reveals how this case is a bellwether for the collapse of democracy in India, as for the first time in the nation’s history there is a multi-pronged, coordinated attack on key defenders of various pillars of democracy. In so doing, Shah shows that democracy today must be not only about protecting freedom of expression and democratic institutions, but also about supporting and safeguarding the social movements that question our global inequalities.

About the speakers

Dr Jayaseelan Raj

Jay is a senior lecturer in Anthropology and International Development. Before joining King's, he was a professor at the Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS), University of Göttingen, Germany. Previously, he was an assistant professor at the Centre for Development Studies, India and a postdoctoral research fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is also Fellow in the GRNPP project at the Department of Anthropology, School of Oriental and African Studies, London. 

About the Interrogating Development Seminar Series

The 'Interrogating Development' seminar series is organised by the Department of International Development at King's College London. The series examines some of the most pressing issues of development facing global society today, with the authors of new books presenting cutting-edge research on a variety of topics related to development.

The talk will be followed by a wine reception. The event is open to everyone.