Oct 12, 2026 · 59 min
India protests voter-roll deletions as Peltier case faces scrutiny
Democracy Now! 2026-10-12 Monday
The episode connects a present-day democratic crackdown in India with unresolved questions about prosecution, Indigenous rights, and government secrecy in the United States.
- 1Protests erupt in India over alleged deletion of roughly 130 million voter names and discriminatory removals affecting Muslims.
- 2Leonard Peltier describes his commutation, home confinement, and conviction while filmmakers detail alleged misconduct in the Pine Ridge case.
- 3Withheld records and official criticism continue to fuel questions about the FBI investigation and the legitimacy of Peltier’s conviction.
Don't miss
Leonard Peltier and David France explain how alleged misconduct, official criticism, and withheld records continue to challenge the legitimacy of his conviction.
The brief
Democracy Now! opens with protests over the alleged deletion of roughly 130 million names from India’s voter rolls, including claims of discriminatory removals and police violence.
From New Delhi, Anjali Kamat and Shoaib Daniel describe arrests, a government lockdown, and demonstrations challenging the Election Commission and Narendra Modi’s government.
The program then turns to Leonard Peltier, who reflects on commutation, home confinement, Indigenous resistance, and the history of colonial control behind his case.
David France and Peltier revisit the Pine Ridge shootout, alleged evidence fabrication, prosecutorial misconduct, and later criticism from officials who questioned the conviction.
Thousands of pages remain withheld under national-security claims, keeping the case’s unanswered questions—and the broader struggle for Indigenous justice—alive.
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