IAMC Weekly India Human Rights Monitor (February 13, 2026)

This Week at a Glance 

This week, IAMC’s 2026 annual report warned of a growing nexus between government action and anti-minority violence, while the US Commission on International Religious Freedom renewed its call to designate India a “Country of Particular Concern” over attacks on Christians. Outrage followed an AI-generated video shared by BJP figures in Assam depicting the chief minister firing at an image of Muslims, and the Union government drew criticism after mandating full performance of Vande Mataram, including verses invoking Hindu deities, at official events. Allegations of mass voter deletions targeting Muslims surfaced in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh during electoral roll revisions. The week also saw a series of hate crime and discrimination cases, including the killing of a Rohingya refugee child in Delhi, an anti-Muslim assault on a train near Hyderabad, mosque demolitions in Uttar Pradesh, reports of religious segregation in a school in Indore, and arrests of Tablighi Jamaat members in Rajasthan.

 

Top Stories

USCIRF Renews Call to Designate India ‘Country of Particular Concern’ Over Increasing Attacks on Christians

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has called upon the US government to urge officials in India to hold “perpetrators of targeted violence accountable, highlighting “violent attacks by Hindu nationalist mobs targeting Christians” and said that such attacks further justify its calls for India to be designated as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).

 

 

 

IAMC 2026 Report Warns of State-Backed Anti-Minority Violence and Democratic Backsliding in India

The Indian American Muslim Council’s (IAMC) Annual Report 2026 warns that Indian state policy is increasingly driving the risk of mass violence against Muslims and Christians, documenting systematic collaboration between the BJP government, police authorities, and allied paramilitary groups that resulted in widespread intimidation, hate speech, mob attacks, and property demolitions targeting minorities throughout 2025.

 

 

AI video of Assam CM Sarma shooting Muslims causes outrage in India

A now-deleted video posted by India’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam state, home to more than 12 million Muslims, has been widely condemned after it showed the state’s chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, shooting at AI images of Muslims. The 17-second clip, titled “point blank shot”, circulated widely on social media before being removed after public outrage

 

 

 

Federal government mandates singing of national song invoking Hindu deities at official events

The Union Home Ministry directed that all six stanzas of the national song ‘Vande Mataram’, must be performed at official events, and audiences should stand in respect. Only the first two stanzas of the song have been played at official functions so far. The remaining stanzas, which invoke Hindu goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati, have been omitted. Muslim lawmakers, organizations and leaders have opposed the move as infringing on religious freedom.

 

Over 15,600 Voter Deletion Requests Filed in Gujarat’s Somnath, Mostly Muslims

More than 15,600 applications were filed in bulk to delete voters from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision process in Gujarat’s Somnath, with a majority of the targeted voters belonging to the Muslim community. Meanwhile, in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut, residents discovered an attempt to remove nearly 200 names from the voters’ list, most of them Muslim, during the ongoing SIR process.

 

 

 

 

 

Hate crimes and discrimination in India

This week, in Delhi, a 14-year-old Rohingya refugee was killed after being stabbed during a fight involving several teenagers. A Muslim man was brutally beaten by a group of five men onboard a train near Hyderabad, after which the victim reported that he was attacked because he was visibly Muslim, with a skullcap and a beard. In Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, authorities started demolishing the Darul Uloom mosque. In Indore, a private school has quietly institutionalised religious separation and Islamophobia by conducting two separate annual functions, one for Muslim students and another for non-Muslim students, largely Hindus. Meanwhile, twelve members of the Tablighi Jamaat were arrested in Rajasthan’s Banswara district after police accused them of preaching religion without prior permission.

 

Resistance & Organizing

Rights Groups Move UN Against Detention of Kashmiri Journalist Irfan Mehraj

Human Rights Foundation (HRF) and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) submitted an individual complaint to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) on behalf of Kashmiri journalist and human rights defender Irfan Mehraj, urging the group to declare his detention arbitrary and in violation of international law.

 

 

 

Muslim youth group holds mass rally as Muslim undertrial completes 17 years in jail

In Kerala’s Malappuram, the Solidarity Youth Movement, organized a mass rally and public meeting in the hometown of Zakariya, who last week completed 17 years in prison as an undertrial in the 2008 Bengaluru serial blasts case. Zakariya was just 19 years old when he was arrested under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). On 5 February 2026, he marked 17 years behind bars, without conviction

 

 

Defenders of the Week

This week, we honour the legacy of Shahid Azmi, a human rights lawyer who defended those wrongfully accused of terrorism. A former detainee himself, Azmi used his legal acumen to challenge state abuse and communal bias in terror investigations. Sixteen years ago, on February 11, 2010, he was shot dead in his office when was just 32 years old. Azmi’s work laid the foundation for future legal challenges to draconian laws and remains a symbol of courage in the fight against injustice.

 

Voices from the Ground 

“Deleting the video where Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma is shown shooting Muslim men with a caption ‘POINT BLANK SHOT’ isn’t enough.

This is who the BJP really is: Mass murderers.

This venom, hatred and violence is on you Mr Modi. 

Are the courts and other institutions sleeping?”

– Supriya Shrinate, Congress spokesperson

IAMC in Action

• On our latest episode of Beyond the Taj, we talk about how the 2002 Gujarat Pogrom is not history. The violence and terror inflicted on thousands of Gujarati Muslims lingers with those who survived it decades after. With both empathy and courage, author Zara Chowdhary speaks about her family’s experience in surviving the Gujarat pogrom, the experience of telling the stories of the victims, and the writing of her memoir, The Lucky Ones. Watch or stream this episode now on YouTube, Apple, and Spotify.

What to Watch Next Week

• With Ramadan coming up, our volunteers will be putting on a Ramadan roadshow to raise awareness at masajid across the country about Hindutva and the work IAMC is doing to fight it. If you’d like to invite IAMC for a presentation at your masjid this Ramadan, contact amin@iamc.com.