Persecution in India: Today’s Update October 6, 2021 (Wednesday)
Hindu Extremist Mobs led By PM Modi’s Party Officials Attack Muslim Neighborhoods in Chhattisgarh
Uttar Pradesh Police Arrest Muslim Women Who Went to Meet Their Family Members in Jail
Indian American Civil Rights Organizations Urge Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to Raise Human Rights Issues on India Visit
Sectarian Attack on Muslim Neighborhoods: IAMC condemns the hours’ long attack on Muslims neighborhoods in Kawardha town of Chhattisgarh state on Tuesday (October 5) by hundreds of Hindu extremists led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) Santosh Pandey. The attack on Muslim homes and businesses came after Pandey led a rally into those areas with the intent of carrying out the violence.
It is shocking that the Chhattisgarh Police personnel stood aside helplessly even as the mob rampaged and attacked. The police have failed to act against the MP even though they have acknowledged that he had no permission to take out the rally, which made it illegal.
This attack on Muslims is part of the larger pattern that is escalating nationwide. The attackers destroyed Islamic symbols that had been raised by Muslims to mark Milad un Nabi, Prophet Mohammad’s Birthday. It is time for US President Joe Biden and the broader international community to take urgent action in regards to India’s rapid descent into fascism.
Arrest of Muslim Women: IAMC condemns the arrest of three Muslim women in Kerala by Uttar Pradesh police. The three women had traveled to Uttar Pradesh to meet with two men from their family who have been wrongfully arrested by UP Police and kept incarcerated for a year in a false criminal case.
On 23 September, Kerala’s Pathanamthitta native Muhsina, along with her 62-year-old mother-in-law Naseema and her seven-year-old son, took a flight to Uttar Pradesh (UP), to meet her husband, who has been imprisoned under the Unlawful Atrocities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
They were also accompanied by two other women and four children from Malappuram district, whose family member was imprisoned under the UAPA in UP. The police arrested them on the false accusation that they had presented fabricated Covid-19 test reports. IAMC demands that the UP Government immediately release the three women and hold the policemen who have fraudulently arrested them accountable.
Deputy Secretary Visit: IAMC joined over a dozen organizations to write a letter to US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman who is visiting India on October 6-7 to raise the issues of human rights violations and religious persecution in India in her meetings with Indian Government officials.
The joint letter sent to Deputy Secretary Sherman details the extent of violations in India, encouraged by Prime Minister Modi’s government, including prolonged incarceration of human rights defenders, including intellectuals and lawyers in the Bhima-Koregaon case, as well as Muslim youth leaders such as Umar Khalid; the attacks against Adivasis and Dalits; the targeting of Christians, etc.
