India among the ‘worst autocratisers’ in the last 10 years, says Swedish institute
India has been one of the “worst autocratisers” in the last ten years, renowned Sweden-based research organization V-Dem Institute (Varieties of Democracy Institute) has said in a report.
“In India, the ruling right-wing, Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm continues to suppress religious freedom,” read the report.
According to the report, India is among the countries “witnessing the most dramatic increases” in political polarization.
The think tank ranked India at the 108th spot globally for electoral democracy. Two years before, the same group stated that India had become an “electoral autocracy.”
The think tank produces one of the largest global datasets on democracy, involving 202 countries and tracking democratic trends between the year 1789 to 2022.
Hindu extremists brutally assault Muslim man over false allegations of cow theft
In the latest case of cow vigilantism, Hindu extremists brutally assaulted a Muslim man in Hindu supremacist BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh state over false suspicions of cow theft.
The Muslim man can be seen bleeding in a video of the incident uploaded on social media. The Hindu extremists are seen vandalizing the man’s car and raising violent anti-Muslim slogans.
Just last month, two Muslim men Junaid and Nasir were kidnapped, lynched, and set ablaze by a mob of violent Hindu extremists in the BJP-ruled Haryana state.
A Muslim man named Waris was also lynched to death in the same region by Hindu extremists for transporting a cow.
Cow vigilantism, or Hindu mob violence against Muslims who transport or slaughter cows, has become dangerously commonplace in Hindu supremacist Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s India.
Court grants bail to Hindu extremists accused of killing Muslims in Delhi pogrom
A court granted bail to seven Hindu men accused of lynching two Muslim men during the 2020 Delhi violence.
Amir Ali, 31, and his brother Hashim Ali, 16, were killed and their bodies were thrown into a sewer by violent Hindu extremists during the Delhi pogrom in February 2020. One brother has been stabbed, the other had head injuries from a blunt object.
“Just five minutes from home, they made frantic calls to their father between 9 and 9.30 pm on February 26, saying they were afraid because the Hindu mob had gathered outside, targeting Muslims,” Hashim and Amir’s mother Asghari reported.
The court claimed that there was no serious evidence against the Hindu extremists.
The accused were members of a WhatsApp group that police investigations revealed was bragging about “killing Muslims” and “dumping their bodies in the sewer,” and offering manpower and guns when necessary.
Out of 758 riots cases relating to the deadly 2020 Delhi violence, charges have been filed for 353 of them. Most of the violent Hindu extremist mobs who killed nearly three dozen Muslims during the days-long violence continue to walk free, as do the leaders of Modi’s BJP who encouraged the anti-Muslim violence.
