IAMC Weekly India Human Rights Monitor (October 15, 2026)

This Week at a Glance 

This week, a 25-year-old Muslim man died in police custody in Bihar. New data showed Muslims being disproportionately flagged for removal in Delhi’s voter roll revision, police detained thousands protesting the SIR process and Hindu extremists assaulted protesters in Delhi. A Hindu extremist mob attacked a Bible convention in West Bengal. In Kashmir, the Waqf Board moved to dictate Friday sermons, while a century-old mosque complex in Sitapur faced demolition and a muezzin in Bijnor was jailed over the azaan.

 

Top Stories

Muslim man dies in Bihar police custody, family alleges he was hit on the head

In Bihar’s West Champaran district, 25-year-old Dilshad Ansari died in police custody after officers took him from his home in a 2 AM raid on October 12, in connection with a 2025 narcotics case. Police claim he jumped from a moving vehicle, but his father, Akhbar Ansari, said he “died after he was hit hard on his head by police.” Six police personnel, including two sub-inspectors, were suspended, and the family is demanding a high-level inquiry.

 

 

Delhi voter revision disproportionately flags Muslims as police detain thousands of protesters

An analysis of Delhi’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls found that Muslims make up 13.6% of the draft roll but 20.3% of voters flagged for “logical discrepancies,” and 58% of the 140,000 voters flagged for having six or more children, as more than 130 million names have been deleted nationwide. Police detained around 7,000 people protesting the SIR in Delhi, suspended mobile internet, and detained nearly 30 journalists, while a police officer entered a Delhi mosque during Friday prayers to warn Muslims against joining protests.

 

Hindu Extremist men assault protesters in central Delhi as police look on

Men in saffron scarves assaulted students and pushed a woman protester to the ground near Connaught Place on October 10 with a police officer present, and police later arrested four men, including a self-described cow vigilante. Another self-proclaimed cow vigilante was filmed brandishing batons at protesters in the same area.

 

 

 

Mosques and Muslim worship targeted in Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat

The BJP-led Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board moved to have a committee pick Friday sermon topics in advance for mosques and shrines, drawing opposition from community leaders. In Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur, officials gave a 100-year-old madrasa-mosque complex seven days to clear the premises or face forced eviction. In Bijnor, a muezzin, Mohammad Faizan, was jailed over the azaan (call to prayer) on a mosque loudspeaker.

 

 

Hate crimes and discrimination in India

This week, in Siliguri, West Bengal, Hindu extremists put up posters urging people to buy goods only from Hindu-owned shops. In Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur, the only Muslim family in a village of about 25 Hindu households alleged assault and a knife attack over a blocked pathway. The Karnataka High Court stayed a probe against BJP leader Ravi Patil over an alleged bid to delete 198 Muslim voters in Belagavi. The Calcutta High Court questioned the two-month detention of a Murshidabad man accused of being Bangladeshi, after a deportation order was issued while his case was pending. In Kolkata, officials opposed the resumption of prayers at the 136-year-old Bankra mosque, closed to worshippers since July. In Kerala, five students, most of them Muslim, were suspended for protesting an RSS-linked seminar. The Allahabad High Court stayed an order requiring the Uttar Pradesh government to pay compensation to two adult sisters confined by their father after embracing Islam. In Mumbai, actor Imran Khan was ordered to leave India by October 28 after joining a protest against the Chief Election Commissioner.

 

Resistance & Organizing

Human Rights Watch and UN demand release of detained protesters

Human Rights Watch urged the Indian government to end its crackdown, noting the SIR is “disproportionately affecting Muslims and other religious minorities, women, and people living in poverty.” The UN human rights office called for all those arbitrarily detained to be “immediately and unconditionally released.”

 

 

 

 

 

Defenders of the Week

This week, we’re spotlighting the journalists detained while covering the protests in Delhi, nearly 30 reporters picked up by police on October 10 and 11. Among them, Scroll’s Shoaib Daniyal was detained outside his South Delhi home, 21 km from Jantar Mantar, and The Caravan says its reporter Ryan Thomas was beaten. The Delhi Union of Journalists and the Network of Women in Media, India took the detentions to the Supreme Court, which issued notice to Delhi Police. Their work keeps the record of state abuse in public view.

 

IAMC in Action

• IAMC chapters and partners held rallies in Boston, Iselin, Atlanta, Dallas, and Fremont against the mass erasure of voters under the SIR and the crackdown on protesters in India. They demanded the release of detained protesters and journalists, a halt to the SIR, and the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Read our statement here.