Human Rights Watch World Report slams India for mimicking Chinese authoritarianism
Renowned rights group Human Rights Watch slammed the Indian government in its World Report 2022, saying that the ruling Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is using abusive policies similar to China’s authoritarian government to repress Muslims and other minorities.
The Indian government “mimicked many of the same abuses that have enabled Chinese state repression – systematic discrimination against religious minorities, stifling of peaceful dissent, and use of technology to suppress free expression – to tighten its grip on power,” the group said in its annual report.
The report cited a number of
“BJP supporters increasingly committed violent attacks against targeted groups,” the report started. “The government’s Hindu majoritarian ideology was reflected in bias in institutions, including the justice system and constitutional authorities.”
Human Rights Watch also criticized the Gujarat state government’s decision to release 11 murderer-rapists in the Bilkis Bano case and the “public celebration” that followed; the “” of over 100 Muslim women using GitHub apps designed by Hindusupremacist college students; and the illegal demolition of properties mostly owned by Muslims.
“Although they [authorities] tried to justify the demolitions by claiming the structures were illegal, the destruction appeared intended to be collective punishment for Muslims,” the report stated.
The report also made mentions about arrests of fact-checking website Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair and journalist Siddiqui Kappan, the targeted killings in Jammu and Kashmir, and the raids by tax officials on non-governmental organizations.
Gun license granted to hatemonger and ex-BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma
Former BJP spokesperson and hatemonger Nupur Sharma, who sparked unrest across India after making blasphemous comments about Prophet Muhammad, has been granted a gun license by Delhi police.
In May 2022, Sharma made televised derogatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad that triggered demonstrations and condemnations across India and the Middle East.
The police claim that the license was granted for “self-defense” as she has been facing “threats.” The intelligence officials have shifted her to an undisclosed location and have provided her with security. She subsequently applied for a handgun license and was granted one by the licensing unit of Delhi Police.
Sharma was also granted protection from coercive action until she is able to make a case for the charges against her to be dropped, highlighting how heavily biased India’s justice system is in favor of Hindu supremacists, while Muslims and other minorities battle terrorism charges for dissenting against the Modi government.
In a continued failure to hold powerful Hindu supremacists accountable, the Supreme Court had refused to entertain a plea calling for her arrest. Her hate speech had sparked largely peaceful protests by Muslims across the nation, which were met with police brutality, arrests, and home demolitions.
Discriminatory Islamophobic poster urges Hindus not to sell properties to Muslims
Islamophobic posters urging Hindus not to sell their properties to Muslims, in a move to further ghettoize the Muslim community, were put up in the capital city of Delhi.
The posters were put up in northeast Delhi, a region that witnessed massive anti-Muslim violence by violent Hindu supremacist mobs in 2020. The violence resulted in the death of 53 people, most of them Muslim.
“All landlords from the Brahmpuri area are informed that they should not sell their houses to Muslims. If you sell them to Muslims, local residents will not allow them to get registered. Then, they will be responsible themselves for it,” the poster reads.
“Any deal will have to be done with Hindu party,” it added.
The discriminatory anti-Muslim posters went viral on social media and drew instant condemnation for being an “open abuse of constitutional rights” and an “open threat” to the Muslim community.
