IAMC Weekly India Human Rights Monitor (October 31, 2025)

This Week at a Glance 

This week in India, a Muslim youth in Delhi and a Dalit man in Madhya Pradesh were brutally killed, highlighting ongoing targeted assaults. Academic freedom is under severe strain, with Scholars at Risk ranking India among the world’s ten “completely restricted” countries for student expression. BJP leaders intensified anti-Muslim rhetoric, linking sanitation workers to “infiltration” and halal certification to terrorism, while thousands in Jalgaon protested the Waqf (Amendment) Act through a mass “Jail Bharo” campaign. Across the country, Muslims faced incidents of hate, discrimination, and exclusion, from assaults, dismissals of Muslim teachers, and housing denial to attacks on restaurants. On the US front, IAMC joined a coalition in signing a letter raising concerns over an event glorifying an RSS leader at a Texas university, and published an op-ed and letter to the editor on the dangers of Governor Gavin Newsom’s veto of SB509.

Top Stories

Event glorifying RSS founder hosted at University of Texas at Dallas

A student event hosted at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) featured the author of a biography on K.B. Hedgewar, a prominent Hindu supremacist figure and the founder of the paramilitary group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The book paints a sympathetic view of Hedgewar, calling him only a “controversial, yet extraordinary man” and advertising a “nuanced perspective” on a group that modeled its ideological project off the Nazis.  

A letter signed by a coalition of student groups and national civil rights organizations warned that “Presenting such a view of a fascist group in a university setting, one that is supposed to be safe and inclusive for all students, implicitly validates a worldview that denies equal dignity to minority communities and has incited real-world violence.”

Muslim man Dies After Brutal Assault on Diwali Night in Delhi

A 22-year-old Muslim youth named Salman died after being brutally assaulted in Delhi on Diwali night. Residents in the area believe Salman may have been targeted because of his faith. Meanwhile, in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhind, a 35-year-old Dalit man, Rudra Pratap Singh Jatav, was beaten to death by his neighbours after a dispute turned violent.

Academic Freedom Under Siege In India, Global Report Warns

Academic freedom is deteriorating sharply in India, where new university rules curbing student expression, politically driven censorship, and rising campus intimidation have placed the country among ten nations rated “completely restricted”, according to a new global report by Scholars at Risk (SAR). In India, SAR records an alarming rise in restrictions on student speech and political expression, often at the direction of authorities aligned with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

BJP Lawmaker calls sanitation workers “terrorists”, Yogi Adityanath Links Halal Certification to Terrorism

A day after uploading a video showing himself stopping five sanitation workers on a road in Lucknow and accusing them of being “Bangladeshi infiltrators”, BJP lawmaker Brij Lal referred to them as “terrorists” and demanded their deportation. Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath defended his government’s recent ban on Halal certification, claiming that the funds generated through such labels were being “misused for terrorism, love jihad, and religious conversions.”

Thousands join ‘Jail Bharo’ protest in Jalgaon against Waqf Act

Thousands gathered in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon to protest the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, a law Muslim groups across India have condemned as a “black law” and a direct assault on community autonomy. The demonstration was held under the banner of a “Jail Bharo Andolan,” a mass voluntary arrest campaign modelled on the All India Muslim Personal Law Board’s (AIMPLB) nationwide roadmap.

Hate crimes and discrimination in India

In Ghaziabad, a 17-year-old Muslim girl and her mother were assaulted by Hindu extremists after she spoke about cow slaughter in a YouTube interview. In Madhya Pradesh, a schoolteacher was suspended after Hindu extremists accused him of making students do poses resembling Muslim prayers during yoga, while in Jammu and Kashmir, two Muslim teachers were dismissed over alleged “anti-national” activities. Kashmiri youth in Kanpur reported being denied housing because they were Muslims, highlighting deepening social exclusion. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court refused to quash a criminal case against a Muslim man for posting that the Babri Masjid “will one day be rebuilt.” In Hyderabad, Hindu militants attacked a restaurant for serving beef, and in Bihar’s Madhubani, priests conducted a “purification” ceremony after a Muslim political candidate visited a temple. Former BJP lawmaker Raghvendra Pratap Singh provoked outrage by promising jobs to Hindu men who “bring” Muslim girls.

Resistance & Organizing

Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims Unite to Restore Abandoned Mosque in Amritsar Village

In a remarkable demonstration of religious tolerance and communal harmony, villagers in Raizada, in Punjab’s Amritsar, have handed over a long-abandoned mosque to the local Muslim community. The restoration also pays tribute to two Muslim volunteers, Shamshad Bhagwanpuri from Uttarakhand and Zakriya Mewati from Rajasthan, who lost their lives while distributing aid during the devastating 2025 floods.

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan slams SIR as “an affront to democracy,” says state firmly opposes it

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has strongly criticized the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) decision to conduct a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Kerala, calling it “an affront to our democratic process.” Vijayan said that basing the exercise on “outdated lists” and rushing it ahead of local elections raises “serious concerns.”

At Azim Premji University convocation, students protest Wipro’s ties with Israel

During the convocation ceremony, graduating students of Azim Premji University wore stickers calling for an “end to the ties between Wipro and Tel Aviv,” expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people and protesting Israel’s ongoing genocidal war in Gaza. Azim Premji, the founder and chairman of Wipro, is also the founder of the university.

Defender of the Week

This week, we’re spotlighting Dr. Anand Teltumbde, a human rights defender, an internationally renowned scholar, and a leading public intellectual in India. He has written extensively on Dalit rights and the anti-caste movement in India. He is currently a Senior Professor and Chair of Big Data Analytics at the Goa Institute of Management (GIM), as well as a columnist at the Economic and Political Weekly, and is actively involved in several organisations, including the Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights and the All India Forum for Right to Education. Teltumbde, implicated in the Elgar Parishad–Bhima Koregaon case in 2018, spent 31 months in jail before being released on bail in November 2022. He recently released his autobiography, “The Cell and the Soul.”

Voices from the Ground 

“They (the BJP) conflated nationalism with their party, and party and religion and nation are all fused into one entity. And it became a sort of amalgam. So, that is what defines ‘anti-national.’ And those people who were defending this Republic’s founding principles should be eulogised; they should be the nationalists. Those people are branded anti-national, and those people who have been eroding these values—the founding values of the Republic—are being upheld as guardians.”

– Dr. Anand Teltumbde, scholar and human rights defender

IAMC in Action

• IAMC is proud to join our coalition partners at Savera for a two-part webinar series addressing the rise of anti-Indian racism, as well as the urgent need for bridge-building in a diaspora that has long been under attack from Hindu supremacists. Our first webinar will be on Tuesday, November 4, at 7:00 pm EST; our second will be on Tuesday, November 11, at 7:00 pm EST. You can register for both events here. 
• In light of Governor Gavin Newsom’s veto of SB509, a bill aimed at addressing transnational repression in California, IAMC published an op-ed in Cal Matters and a Letter to the Editor in the San Francisco Chronicle on the reasons why the veto makes all Indian Americans less safe. 
• IAMC joined a diverse coalition of student groups and national civil rights organizations in writing to the school administration of the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), expressing our grave concern over a student event glorifying K.B. Hedgewar. You can read the letter and see the full list of signatories here.

What to Watch Next Week

• Our first Savera webinar on anti-Indian racism is next week, on Tuesday, November 4, at 7:00 pm EST! Register for the event here.
• 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.