IAMC Weekly India Human Rights Monitor (September 12, 2025)
This Week at a Glance
This week, the UN and USCIRF condemned India’s mass expulsions of Rohingya and Bengali-speaking Muslims. Assam expanded powers to expel “suspected foreigners” without tribunal review, while mass demolitions in the state displaced nearly 700 Muslim families. Rajasthan passed a sweeping anti-conversion law after BJP lawmakers urged Muslims to “return” to Hinduism. A horrific story has also emerged from Gujarat, where a 17-year-old Muslim boy is in critical condition after several days of custodial torture and sexual violence. In Delhi, Muslims returning from Umrah were forced to bow inside a temple; in Uttar Pradesh, migrant hawkers were detained and youths arrested during the holiday Milad-un-Nabi; in Odisha, cow vigilantes beat four Muslim dairy farmers; and in Kerala, police booked 30 women for pro-Palestine slogans. On the US front, IAMC announced our upcoming National Retreat in Chicago, open to our volunteers across the country.
Top Stories
Image: Reuters
UN, US Panel Condemn India’s Illegal Deportation of Rohingya and Bengali-Speaking Muslims
The United Nations and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) have raised alarm over India’s deportations of Rohingya refugees and Bengali-speaking Muslims, warning the expulsions violate international law and religious freedom. Since May, Indian authorities have deported at least 192 UN-registered Rohingya and more than 1,500 Muslims, forcing some across the Bangladesh border and others over the sides of boats into waters near Myanmar.
Assam Grants Officials Power to Deport ‘Illegal Migrants’ Without Tribunal Review
The Assam government approved a new procedure allowing officials to give “suspected foreigners” just 10 days to prove Indian citizenship before issuing deportation orders, bypassing the state’s Foreigners Tribunals. Human rights groups warn the policy disproportionately targets Bengali-speaking Muslims and strips people of due process.
Rajasthan Passes Draconian Anti-Conversion Law Amid Calls for Muslims to ‘Return’ to Hinduism
The Rajasthan assembly has passed a sweeping anti-conversion bill prescribing prison terms of up to life imprisonment for “illegal” religious conversions. During the debate, a BJP lawmaker urged two Muslim lawmakers to “return to their original religion,” sparking outrage and warnings from the opposition that the law will be used to harass minorities.
Mass Demolitions Displace 667 Muslim Families in Assam
In Assam, authorities demolished nearly 700 homes belonging to Bengali-speaking Muslims with only two days’ notice, leaving thousands homeless and at least three dead, according to a fact-finding delegation from the Socialist Party of India. Families say they possessed valid documents proving residence, but their homes and businesses were still destroyed.
Gujarat Muslim Teen in Critical Condition After 9 Days of Police Torture
In a horrific case of police violence, a Muslim minor from Botad, Gujarat, is in critical condition with kidney failure after being tortured and sexually abused for nine days in police custody. The teenager was detained on theft charges and, following the abuse, is now unconscious and on dialysis. Activists accuse police of violating India’s Supreme Court guidelines on custodial rights and demand immediate action against the officers involved.
Hate crimes and discrimination in India
This week, in Delhi, Muslims returning from Umrah were harassed by a Hindu extremist group, forced to bow inside a temple, and had their skull caps snatched. In Uttar Pradesh, authorities demolished parts of a Muslim-majority housing project in Meerut, detained 18 migrant hawkers from West Bengal after branding them “illegal Bangladeshis,” and arrested 33 youths in Firozabad during an Eid Milad-un-Nabi procession. An engineer in Assam alleged a job offer was withdrawn after he revealed his Muslim faith; four dairy farmers were beaten by cow vigilantes in Odisha; and arrests in Maharashtra’s Jalna followed communal tensions over an alleged cow slaughter. Meanwhile, Kerala police booked the Girls Islamic Organisation and 30 of its members for raising pro-Palestine slogans, flags, and banners.
Resistance & Organizing
Muslim Youth League’s ‘Save Democracy March’ Rallies Youth in Delhi
Hundreds of young activists gathered at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar for the Muslim Youth League’s Save Democracy March, vowing to resist voter disenfranchisement and mass evictions targeting marginalized communities. The march drew cross-party youth voices and calls for electoral justice, with leaders pledging nationwide protests to defend the rights of the vulnerable.
Indian Filmmaker Anuparna Roy Wins Venice Best Director, Expresses Solidarity with Palestine
At the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, Anuparna Roy made history as the first Indian filmmaker to win Best Director in the Orizzonti section for her debut feature Songs of Forgotten Trees. In her speech, Roy expressed solidarity with Palestinian children “enduring war and occupation.”
“I might upset my country, but it doesn’t matter to me anymore,” she said in reference to the Modi regime’s staunchly pro-Israel stance.
Defender of the Week
This week, we’re spotlighting Gauri Lankesh, an award-winning Indian journalist and activist who was assassinated outside her home on September 5, 2017 by Hindu militants. Through her work, she exposed right-wing Hindu extremism, corruption, and caste oppression, and stood firmly with Dalits, Adivasis, and minorities. Lankesh remains a global symbol of courage in journalism and an enduring inspiration for those resisting authoritarianism and communal hate.
Voices from the Ground
“Today, brilliant minds, honest souls, and courageous hearts languish in prison …They are mocked, humiliated, and silenced by a judiciary that was meant to protect them, meant to deliver justice, not serve as a handmaiden to power. And so, we must ask ourselves: where did we, as a people, go wrong? And more hauntingly — is it too late to turn back?
Today marks seven years of Sanjiv’s unlawful incarceration …. Seven years stolen from a man whose only ‘crime’ was to speak truth to power. Seven years during which the machinery of injustice has worked tirelessly to break his spirit. Seven years in which rapists, murderers, and lynchers walk free, while a man of conscience languishes in jail — his courage the only crime that keeps him there.”
– Shweta Sanjiv Bhatt, wife of jailed former IPS officer and whistleblower Sanjiv Bhatt
IAMC in Action
- IAMC will be holding our National Retreat next weekend in Chicago, during which our volunteers, leaders, and staff from across the country gather to strengthen our bonds and brainstorm ways to increase our impact. If you’re interested in attending, contact amin@iamc.com.
- 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
- This weekend, our Raleigh chapter will be holding a meeting to discuss ways to further our chapter’s activities, reach, and participation. We’re open to new volunteers and interested individuals of all backgrounds. Reach out to amin@iamc.com for more details if you’d like to attend.
- For California residents: our friends at SALDEF have put together a form that allows you to contact your representatives and urge them to pass SB509, which will recognize and provide tools to push back against the growing threat of transnational repression from governments like India. Take action here.
- The Savera coalition is continuing to release installments of our new zine, titled “Savera’s Guide to Recognizing Hindu Supremacy.” We will release new installments of the zine every week. You can start reading the zine from this post.
