IAMC Weekly India Human Rights Monitor (June 19, 2026)

This Week at a Glance 

This week, Human Rights Watch documented India’s unlawful expulsion of ethnic Bengali Muslims to Bangladesh, leaving families stranded at the border. A report identified 523 Hindutva hate songs inciting violence against minorities across major tech platforms. A 71-year-old Muslim man was beaten to death by BJP workers in West Bengal, while Muslims were assaulted and forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram” in Uttar Pradesh. An investigation revealed AI deepfakes being weaponized against Muslim women. A Muslim undertrial died after 17 years in jail without a verdict. Authorities sealed 15 mosques in Arunachal Pradesh and bulldozed a madrasa in Ghaziabad.

 

Top Stories

HRW: India unlawfully expelling ethnic Bengalis, leaving families stranded at border

Human Rights Watch has documented that Indian authorities are forcibly expelling ethnic Bengali residents, mostly Muslims from West Bengal, to Bangladesh without basic due process, leaving dozens of families stranded at the “zero line” between the two countries. According to the report, Bangladeshi border guards have foiled 21 attempts by the BSF since June 1, 2026, to push more than 200 people, including children, into Bangladesh.

 

 

 

 

 

Over 500 hate songs dehumanize Muslims & Christians across Big Tech platforms

A report by the Washington DC-based group has identified 523 Hindutva hate songs on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music and Meta’s Music Library that violate the platforms’ own content policies by promoting hatred, dehumanization and incitement to violence against Muslims and Christians. The study, titled “Profiting from Hate Music,” found 210 songs on YouTube, 109 on Spotify, 103 on Meta’s Music Library and 101 on Apple Music. More than half of the songs directly threatened or incited violence against religious minorities.

 

 

 

 

 

71-year-old Muslim man killed by BJP workers in West Bengal; Muslims assaulted across Uttar Pradesh

In West Bengal’s Hooghly district, 71-year-old Sheikh Shah Alam was beaten to death by a group of BJP workers. The mob allegedly gathered outside his home and attacked him with bamboo sticks, bricks and iron rods; his wife and other women who tried to intervene were also assaulted. In Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur, two Muslim youth were assaulted and forced to chant “Jai Sri Ram.” In Siddharthnagar, a young Muslim man was stopped on a road, asked his name, and then allegedly stripped and beaten on his private parts. In Lakhimpur Kheri, an elderly Muslim hawker was forced to chant “Jai Sri Ram.”

 

 

Muslim undertrial dies in Bengaluru jail after 17 years awaiting verdict

Abdul Khader, a 69-year-old Muslim undertrial accused in the 2008 Madiwala serial blast case, died after suffering health complications while lodged in Bengaluru’s Parappana Agrahara Central Prison. Khader had been in judicial custody for approximately 17 years and never received a verdict.

 

 

 

 

AI-generated deepfakes increasingly used to target and sexualize Indian Muslim women

An Al Jazeera investigation has documented the growing use of artificial intelligence to generate sexualized deepfake imagery targeting Indian Muslim women. Researchers described the pattern as an escalation of the targeting that was previously visible in the Sulli Deals and Bulli Bai mock-auction apps. According to the Center for the Study of Organized Hate, generative AI has made it possible to convert sexual fantasy into highly realistic imagery at virtually no cost.

 

 

 

Hate crimes and discrimination in India

This week, authorities in Arunachal Pradesh sealed all 15 mosques in the state capital Itanagar, including the Jama Masjid, following pressure from a tribal nationalist group, drawing protests from Muslim organizations. In Uttarakhand’s Dehradun, tension gripped a village after a BJP leader’s murder, with FIRs filed against 150 Muslims. In Rajasthan’s Barmer, the APCR condemned one-day eviction notices issued to six mosques and madrasas as “a clear violation of due process.” In Varanasi, the Ganj Shahida mosque faced demolition, with its committee announcing plans to move the High Court. In Uttar Pradesh, a Muslim man accused in a priest’s murder was killed in a police encounter in Unnao. The UP government ordered the establishment of anti-conversion cells in universities and higher educational institutions. Another madrasa was bulldozed in Ghaziabad amid an intensifying crackdown on Muslim institutions, a shrine was demolished in Moradabad while a mosque was served notice in Meerut, and Meta suspended the Instagram account of activist Aasif Mujtaba without specifying a reason.

 

Resistance & Organizing

Madhya Pradesh court sentences 14 to life imprisonment for Muslim man’s lynching

Four years after a Muslim man was lynched to death over suspicion of cow smuggling, a Madhya Pradesh court sentenced 14 individuals to life imprisonment for the killing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NHRC takes cognisance of attacks on Kashmiri students; Jamaat-e-Islami Hind raises alarm over demolitions

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) took cognisance of attacks on Kashmiri students and shawl sellers across India. Separately, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind raised alarm over the growing wave of demolitions leaving Muslim families across India without shelter.

 

 

 

Defender of the Week

This week, we’re spotlighting Ayush Malik, a 30-year-old man from Shamli, Uttar Pradesh, who has publicly defended his voluntary conversion to Islam in the face of a police crackdown that saw his wife and father-in-law arrested and jailed. Malik, who now goes by the name Mohammad Ali, told media, “I was in no way forced or cheated. I have known about Islam since my childhood. I converted because I felt good about it. Now I am a Muslim, Alhamdulillah.” His father, a prominent local businessman, filed a police complaint alleging that Malik’s wife and her father had “trapped” his son to gain access to family property. Both were arrested under UP’s anti-conversion law and remain in judicial remand. Malik firmly rejected claims of coercion or brainwashing, explaining that his journey toward Islam was gradual and rooted in years of personal study.

IAMC in Action

• Representative Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, and a bipartisan group of state legislators joined community members on Sunday, June 7 at a public forum titled “Community Resistance to Hate and Extremism,” organized by IAMC. Watch here.