NEW DELHI: Human Rights Watch (HRW) has strongly condemned the Indian government for what it calls systematic discrimination against religious minorities, particularly Muslims.
In a recent statement, HRW’s Asia Director, Elaine Pearson, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist administration of “fuelling bias on religious lines” through divisive policies and inflammatory rhetoric.
Pearson highlighted a hardline stance on immigration, with specific concern over the treatment of Bengali-speaking Muslims from neighbouring Bangladesh.
“India has forcibly expelled hundreds of ethnic Bengali-speaking Muslims into Bangladesh without due process,” she stated, calling the actions a clear violation of international human rights standards and legal safeguards.
HRW cited credible reports from Assam and West Bengal indicating that entire families were detained or deported based on questionable documentation.
Legal experts and rights groups say these actions often bypass due process and rely on arbitrary criteria, disproportionately targeting impoverished and marginalized communities unable to produce decades-old citizenship records.
The organization also pointed to a broader pattern of discrimination, citing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as tools that institutionalize religious bias.
Critics argue that these policies effectively exclude Muslims from pathways to citizenship, while easing the process for non-Muslim immigrants from neighbouring countries.
In addition, HRW warned of an increasingly repressive climate in India, where dissenting voices face arrest, media freedom is shrinking, and minority communities live under constant threat of violence. Incidents of mob lynching, hate speech by political leaders, and the use of anti-terror laws to silence critics have drawn alarm both domestically and internationally.
Human Rights Watch called on the Indian government to uphold constitutional principles of equality and secularism, and to honour its international obligations by ensuring fair treatment for all, regardless of religion or ethnicity.
The Indian government has not yet issued a response, but has previously defended its policies as necessary for national security and demographic balance.
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