IAMC Weekly India Human Rights Monitor (October 29, 2026)
This Week at a Glance
This week, an investigation found that 93% of the alleged cow smugglers shot by Uttar Pradesh police since 2020 were Muslim, and West Bengal police killed two men in custody. Hindu militants beat up two Muslim buffalo traders in Madhya Pradesh, and a Gujarat court sentenced three Muslim men to life in prison for cow slaughter. Karnataka’s voter purge removed nearly 10 million names. In Bengal, mobs attacked a Christian woman and an Islamic school. Courts and officials moved against mosques and shrines in Delhi, Gujarat, and Uttarakhand. In Jammu, hundreds of Rohingya refugees were evicted from their homes. Elsewhere, Muslims faced hate speech from officials, a minister’s call for an economic boycott, and attacks on their places of worship.
Top Stories
Police shootings fall overwhelmingly on Muslims as Bengal police kill two in custody
Uttar Pradesh police have shot nearly 650 people accused of cow smuggling since 2020, and 93% of the 627 who could be identified were Muslim, an Associated Press review found. In West Bengal, police shot dead two men in their custody within 24 hours, including murder accused Samiul Sheikh, in killings opposition leaders called staged.
Muslim traders beaten and three men jailed for life over cows
In Damoh, Madhya Pradesh, men linked to the Hindu militant group Bajrang Dal chased Muslim buffalo traders Abid Qureshi and Hasan Qureshi, tied them up and beat them with sticks, accusing them of cattle theft and cow slaughter. In Gujarat, a court sentenced three Muslim men to life in prison, citing ancient Hindu scriptures and calling the cow “the mother of the universe.”
Voter purge strikes nearly 10 million names in Karnataka
Karnataka’s final voter roll after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has 9.93 million fewer names, and officials filed at least 61,059 deletion requests without giving a reason. In West Bengal, where Muslims made up 80% of rejected reinstatement appeals, the Election Commission told the Supreme Court that state poll officials filed 1.61 million appeals to strike voters off.
Christian woman and Islamic school attacked in West Bengal
In Panskura, a mob of about 30 people, including people linked to the Hindu militant group VHP, beat 27-year-old tribal Christian Parvati Hembram Soren, tore her clothes, and destroyed her family’s Bibles. In the same area, 25 to 30 men vandalised an Islamic school and nearby Muslim homes and scrawled a Hindu nationalist slogan on its walls.
Mosques and shrines face courts and bulldozers
The Delhi High Court refused to restore power and water to a mosque near the Prime Minister’s residence, while the Gujarat High Court summoned a district chief over a mosque in Bhuj razed two days after notice. Uttarakhand bulldozed two shrines in Ramnagar, and the state claims 602 demolished in recent months.
Hate crimes and discrimination in India
This week, in Jammu, hundreds of Rohingya refugees were evicted from their settlements. Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane urged Hindus to buy festival goods only from shopkeepers who chant a Hindu nationalist slogans. A BJP lawmaker in Madhya Pradesh urged Hindu parents to pull their children out of Christian and Muslim-owned schools. Uttarakhand’s Chief Minister posted a video of police removing mosque loudspeakers. In Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, an Islamic flag outside a mosque was burnt during a Hindu festival procession, with police seen at the spot. Gujarat dropped Muslim poet Aziz Tankarvi’s poem from its official festival magazine after a VHP objection. A Pune research institute pulled from its library a book by Umar Khalid, a prisoner of conscience jailed under the draconian anti-terror law UAPA for protesting a discriminatory citizenship law.
Resistance & Organizing
Assam handcart puller wins 22-year citizenship fight
A tribunal that rules on citizenship in Bongaigaon, Assam, declared handcart puller Kashem Ali an Indian citizen on October 25, closing a case opened against him in 2004. Lawyers from Citizens for Justice and Peace won it with 18 documents, including 1966 voter rolls listing his parents.
IAMC in Action
- IAMC’s Atlanta chapter will host its annual banquet, themed “Courage over Fear,” on Friday, October 30, 2026, at 6:00 PM at Phase Events, 12150 Morris Road, Alpharetta, Georgia. Speakers include PBS NewsHour foreign affairs producer and reporter Zeba Warsi, and IAMC Advocacy Director Ajit Sahi.
- The next evening, IAMC’s New Jersey chapter will hold its annual banquet, “United for Justice: Empowering Indian Muslims,” on Saturday, October 31, 2026, at 6:00 PM in the Metropolitan Ballroom of the APA Hotel Woodbridge, 120 Wood Avenue, Iselin, New Jersey. Speakers include Linda Sarsour, Yusef Abdallah, and Raquib H. Naik.
