An Indian soldier is going through private communications on a Kashmiri man’s cell phone: India’s search & seizure laws are much looser than search & seizure laws in the US which are part of the Bill of Rights (though routinely flouted in the Black community). In India they are still only lawful in criminal proceedings—except in occupied Kashmir or among dissidents where just walking down the street constitutes suspicious activity.

Called the criminally suggestive act of driving while Black in the US, aggressive use of search & seizure has led to egregious human rights crimes against Black youth. In Kashmir, such violations don’t involve just combing through text messages for those walking while Kashmiri. Violations of India’s too broadly defined search & seizure laws are integral to Cordon & Search Operations—the least of which offenses are house to house searches.