IAMC Weekly India Human Rights Monitor (November 21, 2025)
This Week at a Glance
This week, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom once again urged sanctions against India, citing systematic persecution of Muslims, Christians, and other minorities. In Jammu and Kashmir, officials raided the Kashmir Times office and filed a case against editor Anuradha Bhasin. In Delhi, police labelled long-imprisoned anti-CAA activists as “intellectuals-turned-terrorists.” Assam moved to enforce the 1950 Immigrants Act for the first time, ordering five Bengali-speaking Muslims to leave India within 24 hours. Meanwhile, the Allahabad High Court acquitted a Muslim man after 28 years in prison, due to lack of evidence. A Kashmiri father self-immolated after being denied access to his detained son, Muslim properties were vandalised over fake rumors, and a Muslim teen committed suicide after a cow-vigilante assault. On the US front, IAMC and the Religious Nationalisms Project held the first in a series of events in the Bay Area explaining Hindu supremacy for diverse audiences.
Top Stories
USCIRF says RSS, BJP’s objectives “intertwined” in new report
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, in its November 2025 issue update, named the relationship between the Hindu supremacist paramilitary group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the driving force behind the weaponization of India’s legal framework and criminal justice system against Muslims, Christians, and other minorities.
“While Modi has attempted to publicly distance himself from the RSS, BJP policies reflect the RSS’s Hindutva-oriented objectives, and the two organizations remain intertwined,” the report stated.
PTI
Kashmir Times office raided, Case Filed Against Editor Anuradha Bhasin
The State Investigation Agency (SIA) of the Jammu and Kashmir Police raided the office of independent news organisation Kashmir Times, and registered a case against the newspaper and its editor, prominent journalist Anuradha Bhasin. The Editors of Kashmir Times condemned the raids on its office and said allegations that the newspaper was involved in activities “inimical to the state” were baseless and aimed at silencing independent journalism in the region.
Delhi Police calls anti-CAA activists “intellectuals-turned-terrorists,” “anti-nationals”
While opposing the bail pleas of Muslim activists who protested against an anti-Muslim citizenship law in 2020, the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) labelled them “anti-nationals donning the facade of intellectuals.” The prolonged incarceration of these activists, now exceeding five years, has drawn serious criticism, as the activists continue to languish in jail under the draconian anti-terror laws without trial or bail.
Assam foreigners tribunal orders five “declared foreigners” to leave India in 24 hours
In the first known use of the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, since the Assam cabinet approved its implementation earlier this year, the government has issued orders directing five persons, “declared foreigners” by a tribunal in 2024, to “remove” themselves from India within 24 hours. Rights groups allege that the BJP-led government is disproportionately targeting Bengali-speaking Muslims under the pretext of deporting undocumented immigrants.
28 years behind bars, zero evidence: Court acquits Muslim man in 1996 blast case
Nearly three decades after he was thrown into prison for a blast that killed 18 people, the Allahabad High Court has acquitted Mohammad Ilyas in the 1996 Ghaziabad bus bombing, ruling that the State had failed to prove even the basic charges against him. The bench ruled that the trial court had committed a “great legal error” by relying on a police-recorded audio cassette claimed to contain Ilyas’s confession, a statement that is categorically inadmissible.
This week, in south Kashmir, Bilal Ahmad Wani, who set himself ablaze after police refused to let him meet his detained son, has died from severe burns. In Assam, 44 Kashmiri workers were detained by locals at a railway station after being labelled “suspicious,” while in Jammu, Hindu groups protested the hiring of Muslim doctors at a hospital. In Uttarakhand’s Haldwani, Hindu extremists vandalised a Muslim-owned restaurant over a rumour later disproven by CCTV footage, and in Maharashtra, a 17-year-old Dalit Muslim boy died by suicide after a violent cow-vigilante assault and ongoing online harassment.
Resistance & Organizing
Indian Union Muslim League move Supreme Court to halt SIR in Kerala
The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee have approached the Supreme Court seeking an immediate halt to the Special Interim Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls currently underway in Kerala. Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK had also moved the Supreme Court earlier challenging the SIR in that state, calling it “constitutional overreach” that could lead to large-scale disenfranchisement.
Defender of the Week
(The Hindu)
This week, we’re spotlighting Anuradha Bhasin, a prominent journalist and author, who is currently the executive editor of Kashmir Times. She was a fellow under the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan for the year of 2016, and a John S Knight fellow at Stanford University, California for 2022–2023. She was instrumental in the filing of a writ at the Supreme Court of India, which resulted in partial restoration of communication services during the 2019–2020 Jammu and Kashmir lockdown. Following the litigation, the offices of the newspaper were shut down by authorities and her housing presented with an immediate eviction notice.
Voices from the Ground
“Criticising the government is not the same as being inimical to the state. In fact, it is the very opposite. A robust, questioning press is essential to a healthy democracy… Since 1954, the Kashmir Times has stood as a pillar of independent journalism. We have chronicled the region’s triumphs and failures with equal rigour. We have given voice to communities that would otherwise go unheard. We have asked difficult questions when others remained silent.
We are being targeted precisely because we continue to do this work. In an era when critical voices are increasingly scarce, we remain one of the few independent outlets willing to speak truth to power.”
IAMC in Action
- IAMC and The Religious Nationalisms Project are hosting a series of events across the Bay Area on Hindu supremacy. Join us at any of the following locations for an informational discussion and a meal:
- November 21, First Church Berkeley, United Church of Christ, Berkeley, 6:30 – 9:00 pm
- November 22, Buena Vista United Methodist Church, Alameda, 12:00 – 3:00 pm
- November 22, Sikh Gurdwara Sahib in San Jose, 5:30 – 8:30 pm
- November 23 Christ United Methodist Church, Santa Rosa, 11:00 – 1:30 pm
What to Watch Next Week
- On September 29, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a new interim final rule that bars broad categories of immigrants who are lawfully present in the U.S. and authorized to work from getting and maintaining their commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) and commercial learner’s permits. As a result of the rule, 194,000 drivers are expected to lose their licenses – and their livelihoods – over the next two years as their licenses come up for renewal. Stand up for immigrants’ rights by submitting a public comment opposing the rule, using Sikh Coalition’s template comment for members of the public.
- Diaspora Indians for Liberation is a new national network for young Indian Americans interested in community organizing. Learn more about their mission by reading their zine here, fill out their interest form here, and follow them on Instagram @wearedil.
