IAMC Weekly India Human Rights Monitor (October 3, 2025)
This Week at a Glance
This week, in Uttar Pradesh, police shot a community leader, arrested clerics, and demolished homes over a campaign by Muslims to display “I Love Muhammad” signs, with over 1,300 Muslims facing cases nationwide. In the shadow of the opposition’s accusations of vote theft by the BJP, a probe uncovered attempts to strike 80,000 Muslims off Bihar’s voter rolls. A Washington-based think tank discovered that Hindu nationalist networks are using AI to mass-produce anti-Muslim hate online, adding a dangerous new dimension to the global Islamophobia industry. Modi fueled outrage by honoring the RSS with a stamp and coin, while authorities in Varanasi razed hockey legend Mohammad Shahid’s ancestral home. Human rights groups documented 141 hate crimes and 102 hate-speech cases in just three months, from lynchings to mosque attacks. On the US front, IAMC and our coalition partners released a letter demanding justice for Dalit workers who faced exploitation by BAPS temple authorities in New Jersey.
Top Stories
India Cracks Down on ‘I Love Muhammad’ Campaign, Muslims Arrested in Uttar Pradesh
A wave of protests in India over benign banners reading “I Love Muhammad” has spiraled into a nationwide crackdown, with 21 cases filed against more than 1,300 Muslims and at least 38 arrests, according to civil rights groups. The crackdown began in Uttar Pradesh, when Hindu groups objected to the posters and sparked demonstrations across multiple states. In Bareilly, police shot a Muslim leader in the leg, arrested a prominent cleric and his aides, demolished homes, and suspended internet services, intensifying concerns of religious discrimination and heavy-handed policing under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s government.
Study Finds Generative AI Fuelling Anti-Muslim Hate Campaigns in India
An investigation by The Reporters’ Collective has revealed attempts to delete nearly 80,000 Muslim voters from Bihar’s Dhaka constituency by falsely branding them as non-citizens, including submissions filed on BJP letterhead and in the name of a local lawmaker’s aide. Despite the scale of the alleged disenfranchisement, election officials took no action against those responsible, raising fears of systematic voter roll manipulation ahead of upcoming polls.
Image: Nitin Sethi
Study Finds Generative AI Fuelling Anti-Muslim Hate Campaigns in India
A study by Washington-based think tank Center for the Study of Organized Hate has exposed the large-scale weaponization of generative AI to spread anti-Muslim hate across Indian social media platforms. Tracking 297 Hindu nationalist accounts between May 2023 and May 2025, researchers identified 1,326 AI-generated posts featuring sexualized depictions of Muslim women, conspiracy theories such as “Love Jihad” and “Population Jihad,” and stylized violence. Instagram emerged as the biggest amplifier, driving 1.8 million interactions.
Modi Honours Violent Hindu Paramilitary Group RSS with Stamp and Coin
Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a postage stamp and ₹100 coin to honor the Hindu supremacist paramilitary group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) centenary, hailing the group’s “100-year journey.” The move drew sharp backlash from opposition parties, who said honouring the RSS, long accused of collaborating with colonial rulers and involvement in anti-minority violence, was a “dark day” that insults India’s freedom struggle and secular Constitution.
Hockey Legend Mohammad Shahid’s Ancestral Home Demolished in Uttar Pradesh
Authorities in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi demolished 13 houses as part of a road expansion project, including the ancestral home of hockey player and Padma Shri awardee Mohammad Shahid. Shahid, a 1980 Olympic gold medalist and one of India’s most celebrated players, grew up in the home, which had become a local landmark.
Hate crimes and discrimination in India
Between June and August 2025, India witnessed 141 incidents of hate crimes and 102 cases of hate speech, according to the Association for the Protection of Civil Rights, with Muslims and Christians disproportionately targeted. Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of cases, while attacks ranged from intimidation to seven reported lynchings and 19 incidents of vandalism against mosques and churches. This week, a BJP lawmaker’s son Eklavya Singh Gaur called for a “jihadi-free market” in Indore, Hindu extremist leader Pragya Singh Thakur urged Hindu women to “cut Muslims in half,” and Muslim parents in Kanpur were barred from a school meeting for wearing burqas. In Kashmir, football spectators faced detention for not standing during the national anthem.
Resistance & Organizing
Calcutta Court Quashes Wrongful Deportation, Orders Pregnant Woman’s Return from Bangladesh
The Calcutta High Court quashed the deportation of 23-year-old Sunali Khatun who is eight months pregnant, along with her husband and child, declaring it a violation of their fundamental rights. The court ordered the government to bring the Birbhum family back from Bangladesh within four weeks, slamming officials for bypassing constitutional safeguards and ignoring due process.
Civil Society Unites Against Rajasthan’s “Draconian” Anti-Conversion Law
Civil society groups, religious organizations, and opposition parties in Rajasthan have launched a strong campaign against the state’s newly passed anti-conversion law, calling it unconstitutional and discriminatory. They argue the law emboldens vigilante groups, violates fundamental rights under the Constitution, and creates a “two-class system” by exempting Hindu reconversions.
Palestine Solidarity Protests in Bengaluru, Kochi Despite Restrictions
Despite the arbitrary ban on Palestinian flags and “slogans that could affect international relations” by Bengaluru police, the city witnessed a powerful show of solidarity as hundreds gathered to protest Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. In Kerala’s Kochi, thousands attended the Indian Union Muslim League’s (IUML) Gaza Solidarity Conference, voicing a strong condemnation of Israel’s ongoing atrocities.
Image: Shirin A./Maktoob
Defender of the Week
This week, we’re spotlighting Adivasi activist Suneeta Pottam, who has been imprisoned since May for her fearless work to push back against illegal security camps in Bastar, extrajudicial killings, and sexual violence by Indian security forces. Read more about Suneeta’s story here.
Voices from the Ground
“If someone makes an offensive remark, it can be understood, but when someone says something good about their own faith, like ‘I Love Muhammad’, it is said for the Prophet who always spoke of peace and brotherhood, and who has followers across the world. Such authoritarian actions will not stop them. The government should reflect that if every religion starts raising objections in this way, where will we stand as a society? The present government in Uttar Pradesh neither understands the Constitution nor the rights of its citizens.”
– Iqra Hasan, Opposition Lawmaker
IAMC in Action
- IAMC strongly condemned the alarming wave of police crackdowns across India targeting Muslims for peacefully expressing their reverence for Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Read our full press release here.
- IAMC is continuing to accept submissions for the 2025 HRRF Journalism Grant Program. The program offers grants to independent journalists pursuing in-depth stories that highlight urgent human rights and religious freedom issues in India and across its global diaspora. Apply now here.
- We’re continuing to catalogue daily hate crimes against Muslims and other minorities in India on our social media. Follow us on X and Instagram to keep up to date on the situation.
What to Watch Next Week
- 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.
- For allies in California: our friends at Hindus for Human Rights have put together a letter through their online action tool to contact Governor Gavin Newsom and urge him to sign off on SB 509, which will help protect Californians from transnational repression. Take action here.
