India, Oct. 21 -- United Nations' experts have criticised the Indian police's "heavy-handed" response to youth-led protests in Delhi and elsewhere over the past three months, urging authorities to protect peaceful agitations and ensure justice for alleged rights violations during these and earlier demonstrations.

"This crackdown reflects a broader, troubling pattern," the experts said in a statement issued in Geneva on Tuesday. "We have repeatedly alerted the Indian authorities to undue restrictions on peaceful assembly, excessive use of force, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, and the targeting of student activists, amongst others."

There was no immediate reaction from the Indian government or authorities at the time of fi...