Tribal woman fighting extrajudicial killings arrested, UN rapporteur demands release
A tribal human rights defender known for protesting police and paramilitary violence against tribals, Sunita Pottam, was arrested by the BJP-led Chhattisgarh government over accusations of having ties with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, called Pottam’s arrest “disturbing” in a social media post, adding that the arrest was seemingly the result of the activist’s peaceful advocacy for the protection of Adivasi (tribal) rights and against systemic violations.
Muslim woman mistreated at ultrasound center in Uttar Pradesh
In Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh, a Muslim woman was mistreated by the staff at an ultrasound center. The woman accused a Hindu technician of making disrespectful comments about her hijab.
Hindu supremacist leader delivers dangerous speech against Muslims
In Shamli, Uttar Pradesh, a leader of the Hindu supremacist outfit Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad delivered a dangerous speech against Muslims, and further peddled anti-Muslim conspiracy theories to incite Hindus against Muslims.
Muslim presence in parliament shrinks to only 24 lawmakers from nine states
Amidst major gains for India’s opposition coalition against Narendra Modi’s far-right BJP, which fell short of the absolute majority and needed support from allies to form a government, Muslims see less representation in parliament. Muslim representation has shrunk to 4.42%, with only 24 lawmakers from the nation’s largest minority out of 543 seats. India’s 220 million Muslims make up a little under a fifth of its 1.4 billion population.
India had 26 Muslim lawmakers in the last parliament as the representation has been dwindling with the rise of majoritarian politics in the country. The Muslim parliamentarians come from only nine out of 28 states and 8 union territories.
