IAMC Weekly India Human Rights Monitor (IHRM)

December 13, 2025

IAMC Weekly India Human Rights Monitor (December 12, 2025)

(The Wire)

Sheikh Riyazul, who has been selling vegetarian and non-vegetarian patties for over 22 years, said he was attacked immediately after he revealed his name.

IAMC Weekly India Human Rights Monitor (IHRM)

A weekly digest of persecution, resistance, and the fight for justice in India and the diaspora.

This Week at a Glance

This week, a new map released by the Caravan Magazine reveals just how massive the RSS’s network of affiliated groups is, documenting 2,500 organizations globally. In India, an Islamophobic social media campaign by the BJP depicted Muslims as pests and “infiltrators” under the guise of voter-roll revisions. In Uttar Pradesh, a muezzin was assaulted by police outside his mosque despite having legal permission for loudspeakers. Waqf Boards struggled to meet the controversial UMEED portal’s registration deadline, with only 27% of properties recorded, while a BJP lawmaker moved a Bill to delete “secular” and “socialist” from the Constitution’s Preamble. Meanwhile, Muslim vendors were attacked in Kolkata, a Muslim doctor was booked over a video about the demolition of the Babri Masjid, and Hindu extremists groups staked claim on a well inside a mosque. On the US front, IAMC released a statement on the 33rd anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition.

Top Stories

Over 2,500 RSS-affiliated groups documented globally in new map by Caravan Magazine

A new map released by the Caravan Magazine reveals the staggering number of global organizations that are linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the largest paramilitary group in the world and the driving force behind Hindu supremacy worldwide. The interactive dataset documents over 2,500 RSS-affiliated groups located on nearly every continent.

“Many of the organisations we traced seem unremarkable,” the Caravan stated in an X post. “But, taken together, they form a vivid and revealing picture. The interstitial space between them—the very thing the Sangh seeks to hide—makes clear that the RSS is a single networked entity rather than a loose archipelago.”

Delhi BJP runs Islamophobic campaign, dehumanising Muslims as pests, invaders

The Delhi state committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has escalated a barrage of Islamophobic memes, videos, and graphics across its social media platforms, using the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to depict Muslims as “infiltrators” and enemies of the nation. The content ranges from caricatures of Muslims in skull caps and burqas to animal imagery equating them with rats, pigs, and mosquitoes,The SIR, an exercise to update voter lists, has been aggressively marketed by BJP leaders as a crackdown on “illegal” migrants.

With deadline over, only 27% of waqf properties registered on UMEED portal

Only 216,000 of India’s 800,000 Waqf properties, nearly 27 %, have been registered on the UMEED (Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development) portal. Waqf Board officials now expect to file extension requests with their respective tribunals. Launched under the provisions of the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Act, the UMEED portal aims to create a centralised, geo-tagged digital database of Waqf properties.

BJP Lawmaker Moves Bill to Remove ‘Secular’ and ‘Socialist’ From Constitution

A lawmaker of the ruling BJP, Bhim Singh, has said that the words “secular” and “socialist” are not needed in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution and alleged that they were added in an undemocratic way during the Emergency. Singh has introduced a private member’s Bill in Parliament to remove these words, arguing that they were not part of the original Constitution.

Hindu supremacists stake claim on mosque well

This week, Lora Santhakumar, a Dalit Christian assistant professor at a Chennai university, was dismissed from her job for expressing anti-war views during India’s Operation Sindoor. She was dismissed on the grounds of “grave misconduct,” a charge that reflects the widespread normalization of punishing and censoring critics of the Modi government.

Hate crimes and discrimination in India

Two Muslim street vendors who were selling non-vegetarian patties were assaulted by Hindu extremists in Kolkata. A dispute surfaced in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur after Hindu extremist groups claimed that a well inside a mosque belongs to them. A Muslim woman doctor in Uttar Pradesh was booked for posting what police described as an objectionable video about the December 6 demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya. A week after a 57-year-old Muslim taxi driver from Agra was harassed and allegedly assaulted for refusing to chant Jai Sri Ram, the main accused, Rohit Thakur, has been arrested. His Facebook page carries similar videos where he is seen harassing Muslim men, forcing them to chant Jai Sri Ram or using Islamophobic slurs.

Resistance & Organizing

TV channels apprehended for promoting “love jihad” conspiracy over school textbook letter

The News Broadcasting & Digital Standards Authority pulled up five national and regional television news channels for airing eight broadcasts that promoted the “love jihad” conspiracy theory based on a fictional letter printed in an NCERT Class 3 environmental science textbook. The channels had turned a schoolbook excerpt, a letter written by a girl named Reena to a boy named Ahmad, into communalized programming, accusing NCERT of promoting “love jihad.”

Legal experts slam CJI Surya Kant’s remarks on Rohingyas as “unconscionable, dehumanising”

A coalition of former judges, senior advocates, scholars and civil rights activists has written an open letter to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, objecting to what they describe as “unconscionable remarks” made by a Supreme Court bench on 2 December 2025 during a hearing concerning the alleged custodial disappearance of Rohingya refugees.

Multi-faith delegation seeks action after Muslim students harassed for praying

A multi-faith delegation of social activists, educationists and lawyers met administrators and representatives of Kalyan College in Maharashtra and submitted a memorandum calling for filing a first information report (FIR) against those who intimidated and publicly humiliated Muslim students who were performing prayers in an empty classroom, with prior permission.

Defender of the Week

This week, we’re spotlighting Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, a prominent Kashmiri leader and Member of Parliament. Mehdi recently refused to sing the patriotic song Vande Mataram, stating that while he respects the nation, no citizen can be compelled to subscribe to cultural or religious expressions they do not believe in. He warned that patriotism cannot be policed and that dissent is not disloyalty, arguing that India’s strength lies in safeguarding individual freedoms.

Voices from the Ground

“Our choice not to sing certain stanzas (of Vande Mataram) arises from religious constraints, not from any deficiency in patriotism. The Constitution guarantees every citizen the freedom of faith, and this freedom cannot be used as a measure of one’s loyalty to the nation. Indian Muslims fought for the freedom of this country together, and remain equally committed to safeguarding that freedom today.

– Aga Ruhullah Mehdi , Srinagar MP

IAMC in Action

We’re excited to announce the launch of our new podcast, Beyond the Taj, which explores Indian Muslim culture, history, and current affairs. Our first episode features historian Ram Puniyani, who speaks on Indian identity, secularism, and the far-right assault on pluralism. Watch or stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.