The Indian government has normalised violence against religious minorities, marginalised groups, and critics through discriminatory policies and hate speech, the report says
NEW DELHI – The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government has vilified religious minorities and expelled hundreds of Bengali-speaking Muslims and Rohingya refugees deemed “illegal immigrants” in 2025, Human Rights Watch said in its World Report 2026 released on Tuesday. The authorities cracked down on critics of the government and pressured the media to self-censor, spurring abuses by government officials and BJP supporters, the report said.
“The Indian government has normalised violence against religious minorities, marginalised groups, and critics through discriminatory policies, hate speech, and politically motivated prosecutions,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of reversing its abusive policies to promote the country as a global voice on human rights, the BJP government has undermined India’s standing around the world.”
In the 529-page World Report 2026, its 36th edition, Human Rights Watch reviewed human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In his introductory essay, Executive Director Philippe Bolopion writes that breaking the authoritarian wave sweeping the world is the challenge of a generation. With the human rights system under unprecedented threat from the US President Donald Trump administration and other global powers, Bolopion calls on rights-respecting democracies and civil society to build a strategic alliance to defend fundamental freedoms.
The report pointed out that in the wake of Operation Sindoor after the Pahalgam terror attack in April, Indian authorities suppressed dissent by briefly blocking some independent media outlets and commentators, arresting people for their social media comments, and filing cases against academics and satirists.
The Human Rights Watch report said there has been an increase in hate speech cases, often linked to Hindutva groups, and attacks against Muslims. “Authorities continued to carry out unlawful demolitions of homes and properties of Muslims, claiming they were built illegally, belonged to alleged militants, or were occupied by ‘illegal immigrants,’ actions that violated a Supreme Court ruling,” the report said.
In Ladakh in September, the report said, police killed four people after protests demanding autonomy turned violent and protesters set fire to a police vehicle and the BJP offices. The authorities temporarily shut down mobile internet and arrested an educator and climate activist, Sonam Wangchuk, in a politically motivated case under the National Security Act.
The report said several activists, including students, remained in jail without charge under the abusive counterterrorism law. “The authorities also used foreign funding laws, counterterrorism laws, fabricated financial investigations, and other means to harass and prosecute activists, civil society groups, and the BJP’s political opponents.”
The report also mentioned allegations of bias against the Election Commission. Opposition politicians and rights activists have flagged voter fraud and inconsistencies in the electoral rolls, the report said.
Indian authorities should end discriminatory policies, use of hate speech, and inciting unlawful action against Muslims, Christians, and other religious minorities, and ensure justice for those harmed, Human Rights Watch said. They should stop harassing and prosecuting civil society groups, the BJP’s political opponents, and peaceful protesters, and immediately drop all politically motivated charges against activists and other critics.
