IAMC Weekly India Human Rights Monitor (February 20, 2026)

This Week at a Glance 

This week, a report warned that India’s expanding AI ecosystem is being weaponized against minorities amid weakening democratic safeguards. The Indian government faced criticism after funding an event where speakers called for the “removal” and mass deportation of Muslims, while the Supreme Court declined to hear petitions seeking action against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over hate speech. Uttar Pradesh saw targeting of interfaith couples under “love jihad” allegations, with arrests and cases filed under the state’s anti-conversion law. The week further recorded multiple incidents of violence and discrimination, including a fatal shooting in Delhi, assaults and forced religious sloganeering, mosque vandalism in Telangana, the scrapping of Muslim reservation in Maharashtra, and new meat sale restrictions in Bihar ahead of Ramadan.

 

Top Stories

Report flags risks to minorities, privacy as India hosts AI Impact Summit 2026

A new report by the Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH) and the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) has raised concerns about the country’s AI governance model amid what it describes as “democratic backsliding.” The report examines India’s regulatory landscape, the expanding deployment of artificial intelligence systems, and the potential harms to minorities and marginalized communities.

 

 

Federal Government Gave $69,000 for Event Calling for “Removing Muslims”

The BJP-led Union government paid around $69,000 for a Hindu festival celebration organized by the Sanatan Sanstha, where speakers called for India to be declared a “Hindu Nation” and made inflammatory demands including the “removal” of 25 percent of Indian Muslims, along with “mass conversion” and “mass deportation” of Muslims.

 

 

 

Supreme Court declines to hear pleas against BJP minister over hate speech

The Supreme Court declined to entertain petitions filed under Article 32 of the Constitution seeking action against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over hate speech against Bengali speaking Muslims. Recently, a now-deleted video showed Sarma, shooting at AI images of Muslims.

 

 

 

 

 

After Years of Inaction, Officials Move in Muslim Assault and Kashmir Killing Cases

The Uttar Pradesh government informed the Supreme Court of India that it will invoke hate crime provisions in the 2021 assault case of Kazeem Ahmad Sherwani, nearly five years after he was abused and humiliated over his Muslim identity in Noida. Meanwhile, over a year after a Kashmiri truck driver was shot dead in Kashmir’s Baramulla, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has registered a case into the incident, marking what lawyers say is the first such action involving the armed forces in the Valley since the abrogation of Article 370.

 

Interfaith Couples Targeted in Uttar Pradesh Amid “Love Jihad” Allegations Muslims

A Muslim gym trainer in Meerut has been booked and hospitalized after Hindu militants from the Bajrang Dal accused him of “love jihad” for meeting a Hindu woman at a restaurant during Valentine’s week. In a similar incident in Hapur, a Muslim youth and his Hindu girlfriend were detained by police following protests by Hindu extremists. Meanwhile, a Muslim man has been booked under Uttar Pradesh’s anti-conversion law after his fiancée’s uncle filed a police complaint objecting to their interfaith marriage. However, the bride and her mother have rejected the allegations, calling them baseless and politically motivated.

 

 

Hate crimes and discrimination in India

This week, a Muslim man was shot dead in Delhi after he rushed to rescue his teenage son from a group that was reportedly assaulting him over his religious identity. In Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, police shot at, and arrested two Muslim men allegedly involved in cow slaughter. A Muslim youth was attacked, beaten brutally and forced to chant “Jai Sri Ram” by Hindu extremists in Odisha. Muslim vendors at a tribal festival in Telangana were confronted in a YouTube video that falsely accused them of promoting “food jihad” and selling “adulterated” buns. A mosque in Telangana’s Yadadri Bhuvanagiri was vandalized and copies of the Quran were desecrated. The BJP-led Maharashtra government has decided to cancel the five per cent reservation for Muslims in education and government jobs. The Bihar government has introduced a statewide ban on the open sale of meat, just days before Ramadan, allowing only licensed traders to operate under stringent regulations.

 

Resistance & Organizing

New anthology stands in solidarity with incarcerated activist Umar Khalid

The newly released book “Umar Khalid and His World: An Anthology” seeks to “widen the circle of companionship” around anti-CAA activist Umar Khalid and serve as a tribute to those jailed or targeted for speaking out against injustice, the organizers said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christian group welcomes Supreme Court stay on Chhattisgarh exhumations

The United Christian Forum (UCF) welcomed the Supreme Court’s interim order restraining the alleged illegal exhumation of Christian burial sites in Chhattisgarh, describing the ruling as a “beacon of hope” for minority communities facing hostility over burial rights. The organization expressed hope that “Christian graves will not be disturbed any more,” following the court’s intervention.

 

 

 

NBDSA fines Zee News over Islamophobic broadcast, apology ordered

The News Broadcasters and Digital Association (NBDSA) directed Zee News to pay a fine of $1000 over its programme aired in March last year that falsely linked a traffic jam on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway to a truck driver offering prayers. The broadcast sensationalized a video purportedly showing prayers being offered on a truck in Jammu and framed the incident in a manner that vilified Muslims.

 

 

Defenders of the Week

This week, we’re spotlighting Senior Advocate for the Supreme Court of India Prashant Bhushan, a veteran Indian lawyer who uses public interest litigation to push back against corruption and civil rights violations. Mr. Bhushan is known for his sharp criticism of the Modi government, the weakening of the Indian judiciary, and the corrosion of Indian democracy.

 

Voices from the Ground 

“Absurd for the CJI to say that approaching SC for seeking accountability of a CM who routinely across states indulges in the most egregious Hate speech, is an attempt to make the SC a political battleground!

Isn’t Hate speech a crime?

Why does the SC ask petitioner to approach HC?

– Prashant Bhushan, Public Interest Lawyer

IAMC in Action

• We’ve uploaded Associate Media Director Safa Ahmed’s remarks on India from the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit 2026 on YouTube! You can watch her make the case for designating India as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for religious freedom violations here. 
• 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.