IAMC Weekly India Human Rights Monitor (July 24, 2026)

This Week at a Glance 

This week, India’s largest student-led protest movement in years escalated dramatically as police used tear gas, baton charges, and allegedly pellet guns against tens of thousands of protesters. In Uttar Pradesh, authorities ordered the demolition of 38 out of 40 buildings at Mohammad Ali Jauhar University. Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez and journalist Irfan Mehraj were released on bail after years of detention, while a report revealed that India’s state-owned ONGC directed nearly $70 million to RSS-linked organisations. New census data challenged the BJP’s claims of rapidly rising Muslim population numbers. In Kashmir, security forces detained over 2,500 people after a policeman was killed in an attack. Meanwhile, a 17-year-old Hindu girl in Bareilly died by suicide after being harassed by Hindutva activists over “love jihad” claims, a Muslim student in Madhya Pradesh was stripped and tortured, a Muslim man in Uttarakhand was assaulted and paraded with a dog leash, and a Muslim driver in Bihar was beaten to death over a parking dispute.

 

Top Stories

Police Crackdown on Student Protesters Leaves Dozens Injured, Teen May Lose Vision

Tens of thousands of student protesters from the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement attempted to march toward Parliament on July 20, the opening day of the Monsoon Session, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET paper leak scandal and other examination irregularities. Delhi Police responded with baton charges, tear gas, internet shutdowns, and mass detentions, leaving over 150 protesters hospitalized. A 19-year-old protester, Sahil Lochab, may permanently lose vision in his right eye after sustaining what doctors described as pellet injuries. In Bihar’s Jehanabad, police fired 20 to 30 rounds in the air as student protests over examination irregularities turned violent, while a Delhi lawyer separately alleged custodial torture at Nizamuddin Police Station.

 

 

Authorities Order Demolition of 38 Buildings at Mohammad Ali Jauhar University

Officials in Uttar Pradesh ordered the demolition of 38 out of 40 buildings at Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, alleging they were constructed without approved building plans. Students launched a sit-in protest, saying their futures were at stake. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor called the move “perverse,” urging authorities not to destroy a functioning educational institution in a state with a dearth of quality higher education.

 

 

 

 

 

Kashmiri Human Rights Defender Khurram Parvez, Journalist Irfan Mehraj Released After Years in Prison

Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez and journalist Irfan Mehraj walked out of Tihar Jail after a Delhi court granted them bail. Parvez, the programme coordinator of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), had been detained for 1,703 days since his arrest by the National Investigation Agency in November 2021, while Mehraj, a freelance journalist associated with the same organisation, spent 1,219 days in custody. Both were charged under the UAPA on allegations of funding terror activities, which international rights organisations have called “trumped-up charges” in retaliation for their human rights documentation work.

 

 

India’s State-Owned Oil Giant Directed $70 Million to RSS-Linked Groups

India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) directed nearly $70 million in corporate social responsibility funding over a decade to organisations linked to the Hindu supremacist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), amounting to nearly 15% of its total CSR spending, raising renewed scrutiny over whether government-owned companies should finance organisations tied to Hindutva ideological movements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Census Data Challenges BJP’s Muslim Population Panic

A report in The Wire analysed India’s census data and found that the evidence does not support the BJP’s repeated claims of a rapidly growing Muslim population threatening India’s demographic balance. The article challenges the narrative, frequently invoked by BJP leaders and Hindutva organisations, that Muslims will overtake India’s Hindu population, a claim that has been used to justify discriminatory legislation and policies targeting Muslim communities, including the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens.

 

 

Over 2,500 Detained in Kashmir Crackdown, Suspects’ Family Homes Demolished

Security forces launched a sweeping crackdown across Kashmir after a police head constable was killed in a suspected militant attack in Anantnag, detaining over 2,500 suspects and demolishing the houses of two alleged militants using controlled explosives. 

 

 

 

Hate crimes and discrimination in India

This week, in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly, a 17-year-old Hindu girl died by suicide hours after being harassed by Hindutva activists who accused her of “love jihad” for meeting her Muslim friends at a hotel. Monu Manesar, the accused in the 2023 murder of two Muslim men Junaid and Nasir, shared a photograph of himself with President’s Police Medal-winning IPS officer Rajesh Duggal. In Madhya Pradesh’s Seoni, a 20-year-old Muslim student was abducted, stripped, and tortured for nearly two hours over allegations of a relationship with a Hindu girl, with attackers rubbing chilli powder and salt into his wounds. In Uttarakhand’s Haridwar, a Muslim man was assaulted and paraded with a dog leash around his neck by a mob after visiting a Hindu woman friend. In Bihar’s Sitamarhi, a Muslim auto-rickshaw driver Jamil Akhtar was beaten to death over a parking dispute. In Muzaffarnagar, Hindu groups protested against Muslim families who had legally purchased homes in a Hindu-majority colony. On the legislative front, a bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha to make insulting or disrupting the singing of “Vande Mataram” punishable with up to three years’ imprisonment.

 

Resistance & Organizing

Protests Force Withdrawal of Demolition Notice on 1,000-Year-Old Varanasi Mosque

Strong protests and intervention by Muslim community leaders forced the withdrawal of an eviction notice issued by railway authorities against the historic Ganj Shaheedan Mosque near Kashi Railway Station in Varanasi. The notice had claimed the mosque was “illegally built on railway land” and directed occupants to vacate it by June 20. The mosque committee rejected the claim, asserting that the mosque was established around 1034 AD, centuries before the railways, and is registered with the Waqf Board.

 

Voices from the Ground

“Anitha, Rohith Vemula, Fathima Latheef, Payal Tadvi… let their names, struggles, and legacies lead this protest across India. And let the names of those responsible be spoken just as loudly. This does not begin and end with Dharmendra Pradhan. It is about an entire power structure rooted in casteism, Islamophobia, and injustice.

A dignified student community and a truly equal society will be won only through sustained resistance.”

— Aysha Renna , Anti-CAA activist, Former JMI student

 

IAMC in Action

 

• IAMC strongly condemned the violent police crackdown on tens of thousands of peaceful student protesters in New Delhi as they marched toward Parliament under the “Chalo Sansad” banner, calling for the immediate release of all detained protesters and the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Read the statement here.
• IAMC joined a growing wave of international solidarity with India’s student-led protest movement as demonstrations were held across the United States and Europe. IAMC’s Boston chapter organised an emergency solidarity rally at Harvard Square. Read the statement here.
• IAMC published an analysis of India’s blasphemy law and its implications for free speech and minority rights. Read the piece here.
• IAMC published a feature on why India should remember Abdul Qaiyum Ansari, highlighting his contributions to the freedom movement and his advocacy for the rights of marginalized communities. Read the piece here.