PERSECUTION OF MUSLIMS IN INDIA
A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war or violence. A
refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or
membership in a particular social group. Most likely, they cannot return home or are afraid to do so. War and
ethnic, tribal and religious violence are leading causes of refugees fleeing their countries’THAT IS A REFUGEE
PERSECUTION VERSUS DESCRIMINATION
THE FEAR FACTOR
The subjective component relates to the existence of a fear of persecution in the mind of the refugee.
Objective factor relates to the actual persecution if any or the existing persecution faced by persons of a similar
background
How do you prove well-founded fear of persecution?
An applicant can demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution by showing that there is a pattern or practice
in their country of persecution
RELIABLE SOURCE MATERIAL USED BY THE IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE BOARD TO ESTABLISH COUNTRY
CONDITION
- A) IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE BOARD COUNTREY REPORT ON INDIA
- B) THE US DEPARTMENT OF STATES. COUNTRY REPORT
- C) HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
- D) OTHER RELATED MATERIALS.
COUNTRY REPORT FINDINGS
IRB sources report that Muslims are the largest religious minority group in India (Data from the census
indicates that there are Muslims in every Indian state, with Uttar Pradesh having the largest population, with
approximately 38.5 million Muslims residing there, followed by 24.7 million Muslims in West Bengal, 17.6
million in Bihar and 13 million in Maharashtra (India 2011). With a population, respectively, of approximately
8.6 million Muslims out of a population of 12.5 million, and 62,000 Muslims out of a population of 64,000, the
now-abolished Jammu and Kashmir state [now the Jammu and Kashmir territory and the Ladakh territory]
and the Lakshadweep union territory were the only areas in India with a Muslim majority (India 2011).
Sources note that Muslims encounter societal (Freedom House 2020; CSSS and MRG June 2017, 5) and
economic marginalization (Freedom House 2020). According to the US Department of State Country Reports
on Human Rights Practices for 2019, Muslims are among the most vulnerable groups in relation to societal
violence based on religion and caste
An Inherently Discriminatory Law
The citizenship law amendments passed by parliament in December 2019 will allow Hindus and other nonMuslims who were unable to prove their citizenship status in Assam – and thus were left out of the National
Register of Citizens – to maintain their Indian citizenship. It will also apply to other religious minorities who
might be left out in the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens. It will not, however, protect
Muslims left off the registry.
COW PROTECTION
Cow protection measures adopted by states (CSSS and MRG June 2017, 18). Human Rights Watch (HRW)
reports that between May 2015 and December 2018, at least 44 people, including 36 Muslims, were killed in
12 Indian states in relation to beef consumption, while 280 people were injured across 20 states for the same
motive (HRW Feb. 2019, 1). Sources also indicate that the cow protection movement is adversely impacting.
DELHI RIOT
The Diplomat, a current affairs magazine for the Asia-Pacific region, reports that "[a]t least two mosques in
Mustafabad were vandalized and attacked with stones" (The Diplomat 27 Feb. 2020). Four mosques were
also attacked by rioters with gas cylinder explosives in Shiv Vihar, according to the Guardian (The Guardian 16
Mar. 2020). According to sources, there were between 40 and 51 deaths, most of them Muslims
Sources report that during the Delhi incidents in February 2020, Delhi police forces, under the control of the
Home minister and BJP member Amit Shah, did not intervene to stop the rioters and participated in the
violence
Treatment Related to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Pandemic
According to sources, Muslims are accused of conspiring in order to spread the COVID-19 virus, after an
outbreak had been linked to a meeting of the Islamic missionary group.
CITIZENSHIP ACT
Sources indicate that, in the second week of December 2019, the Indian parliament passed the CAA (US Feb.
2020, 1; The Washington Post 19 Dec. 2019; Business Today 11 Dec. 2019). It was a campaign promise in 2014
and in 2019 of the BJP party (US Feb. 2020, 1) or the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) [a coalition led by
the BJP (The Times of India 11 June 2019)] that governs India at the national level (Business Today 11 Dec.
2019). Sources explain that the act amends the previous Indian legislation on citizenship which prohibited
Provided that any person belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community from
Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered into India on or before the 31st day of December, 2014.
INDIA LAW
Governments in India have routinely used repressive laws such as UAPA and sedition, to bypass human rights
and stifle dissent. In 2018, the conviction rate under UAPA was 27% while 93% of the cases remained pending in
the court. Similarly, since 2016, only 7 sedition cases saw conviction. These laws are mere tools of harassment
that the government uses to harass, intimidate and imprison those who are critical of the government. The slow
investigative processes and extremely stringent bail provisions under these laws ensure that they are locked up
for years altogether. (Amnesty International India 1
PERSECUTION ESTABLISH IN EMPLOYMENT
EDUCATION HOUSING HEALTH CARE TREATMENT OF WOMEN WITH STATISTICAL DATA (Amnesty International
India. 1 May 2020.
DEPARTMENT OF STATES (USA) COUNTRY REPORT
The US Department of State has noted that Muslims in India are vulnerable to communal violence and
discrimination
Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful and arbitrary killings, including
extrajudicial killings by the government or its agents; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading
treatment or punishment by police and prison officials; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary
arrest and detention by government authorities; political prisoners or detainees; arbitrary or unlawful
interference with privacy; restrictions on free expression and media, including violence, threats of violence, or
unjustified arrests or prosecutions against journalists, use of criminal libel laws to prosecute social media
speech; restrictions on internet freedom; overly restrictive laws on the organization, funding, or operations of
nongovernmental organizations and civil society organizations; refoulement of refugees; serious government
corruption; government harassment of domestic and international human rights organizations; lack of
investigation of and accountability for gender-based violence; crimes involving violence and discrimination
targeting members of minority groups based on religious affiliation, social status or sexual orientation or gender
identity; and forced and compulsory labor, including child labor and bonded labor.
The report noted incidents where Muslim men were paraded in public and forced to chant “Jai Shree Ram” in
Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur and police shootings during the eviction of villagers belonging to the community in
Assam’s Darrang district last year.
“Muslim communities continued during the year with cases of physical abuse, discrimination, forcible
displacement, and lynching for suspected cow smuggling,” it stated.
The reports also mentioned that the laws against religious conversions have been used to target Muslims.
Bharatiya Janata Party-led state governments in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have enacted anticonversion laws since last year to penalise “love jihad”.
The term has been used by Hindutva outfits to push the conspiracy theory that Muslim men lure Hindu women
into marrying them with the sole purpose of converting their brides to Islam.
“These ‘love jihad’ laws seek to make forced religious conversion by marriage a criminal offense and have
mainly targeted Muslim men attempting to marry Hindu women,” the report stated. “Civil society groups
criticized these laws as violating constitutional protections on freedom of religion, but some survey data
suggested religious minority communities themselves sometimes expressed support for anti-conversion
measures.”
The Citizenship Amendment Act and the exclusion of Muslims from its provisions was also noted in the report.
In 2019, Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Act, which provides an expedited path to Indian
citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian religious minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
and Pakistan.
“Following passage of the Act, widespread protests against its passage and the exclusion of Muslims from the
statute occurred throughout the country, leading to arrests, targeted communications shutdowns, bans on
assembly, and deaths in a few instances,” the report noted
Arbitrary detentions
The report observed that detention laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Public Safety Act were
arbitrary.
The Unlawful Activities (Prevention Act) gives authorities the power to detain persons for up to 180 days
without charge in cases related to insurgency or terrorism.
The report noted that in 2021, Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir saw an increase in the application of the
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Since 2019, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has booked more than
2,300 persons in approximately 1,200 cases under the law.
“According to human rights NGOs [non-government organisations], police used torture, mistreatment, and
arbitrary detention to obtain forced or false confessions,” the report stated. “In some cases, police reportedly
held suspects without registering their arrests and denied detainees sufficient food and water.”
The report specifically mentioned the treatment meted out to 84-year-old Stan Swamy, a Jesuit priest who was
arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case. The case pertains to caste violence in a village near Pune in 2018. Sixteen
people were arrested for allegedly plotting the violence.
Swamy died at a Mumbai hospital, while in police custody, on July 5, nearly nine months after he was arrested
under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. He had suffered from multiple ailments including Parkinson’s
disease, and had contracted the coronavirus infection at the Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai.
The report noted that his bail petition submitted under medical grounds was rejected on multiple occasions by
the National Investigation Agency court.
The report also mentioned that prosecutors had delayed starting the trial of activist Umar Khalid.
Khalid was arrested along with other activists, on September 14, 2020, after riots broke out between the
supporters of the Citizenship Amendment Act and those opposing the law in North East Delhi between February
23 and February 26 of that year.
The report said that the Armed Forces Special Power Act violated the Article 21 of the Constitution which
guarantees protection of life and personal liberty. The Act gives Army personnel sweeping powers to search,
arrest, and to open fire if they deem it necessary for “the maintenance of public order”.
The report also noted that the Public Safety Act, which is in force in Jammu and Kashmir, permitted the
authorities to detain persons without charge or judicial review for up to two years without visitation from family
members
“Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir allowed detainees access to a lawyer during interrogation, but human rights
groups documented that police routinely employed arbitrary detention and denied detainees access to lawyers
and medical attention,” the report stated.
‘Systemic racial violence’ against Dalits
The report pointed out that 50,291 crimes were reported against Dalits in 2020 – a 9.4% increase from 2019.
“Crimes committed against Dalits reportedly often went unpunished, either because authorities failed to
prosecute perpetrators or because victims did not report crimes due to fear of retaliation,” the report stated.
The report noted that there were several reports of discrimination against Dalits
when it came to access to services, such as health care, education, access to
justice, freedom of movement, access to institutions, and marriage.
“Many Dalits were malnourished,” it said. “Most bonded laborers were Dalits, and those who asserted their
rights were often victims of attacks, especially in rural areas. As agricultural laborers for higher-caste
landowners, Dalits reportedly often worked without pay.”
Harassment of journalists
In its report, the US Department of State noted journalists who are critical of the government in their reporting
or on social media platforms were harassed.
“There were reports from journalists and NGOs that government officials at both the local and national levels
were involved in intimidating critical media outlets through physical harassment and attacks, pressuring owners,
targeting sponsors, encouraging frivolous lawsuits, and in some areas blocking communication services,” the
report stated
It noted that harassment and violence were particularly acute for female journalists. It also said that journalists
particularly working in Jammu and Kashmir region faced barriers to free reporting.”
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Muslims in India have been increasingly at risk since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was first elected in 2014. Faizan died in a carnage amidst
rising communal tensions in the country. On December 12, 2019, the Modi administration achieved passage of
the discriminatory Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). Under the act, for the first time in India, religion is a
basis for granting citizenship. The law specifically fast-tracks asylum claims of non-Muslim irregular
immigrants from the neighboring Muslim-majority countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Since the
Modi administration first took office, BJP leaders have repeatedly made Hindu nationalist and anti-Muslim
remarks in their speeches and interviews. These have, at times, encouraged and even incited violent attacks by
party.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government increasingly harassed, arrested, and prosecuted rights
defenders, activists, journalists, students, academics, and others critical of the government or its policies.
The government continued to impose harsh and discriminatory restrictions on Muslim-majority areas in Jammu
and Kashmir since revoking the state’s constitutional status in August 2019 and splitting it into two federally
governed territories.
Attacks continued against minorities, especially Muslims, even as authorities failed to take action against BJP
leaders who vilified Muslims and BJP supporters who engaged in violence.
Anti-Muslim rhetoric surged following the outbreak of Covid-19. In March, after Indian authorities announced
that they found a large number of Covid-19 positive cases among Muslims who had attended a mass religious
congregation in Delhi, some BJP leaders called the meeting a “Talibani crime” and “CoronaTerrorism.” Some
pro-government media had screamed “CoronaJihad” and social media platforms were flooded by calls for social
and economic boycotts of Muslims. There were also numerous physical attacks on Muslims, including
volunteers distributing relief material, amid falsehoods accusing them of spreading the virus deliberately.]
Government policy has also reflected bias against Muslims. Since October 2018,
Indian authorities have deported over a dozen Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar
despite the risks to their lives and security.
The BJP government and its supporters have targeted protesters for arbitrary arrest and violence in states
governed by the BJP. At least 30 people have been killed during protests, all in three BJP-governed states: 23 in
Uttar Pradesh, 5 in Assam, and 2 in Karnataka. The vast majority of those killed and injured have been Muslims.
Several police officers have been injured.[157]
Authorities in Uttar Pradesh, the state with the largest number of Muslims at nearly 40 million, has cracked
down hardest on the protests. In addition to the 23 deaths, dozens were injured, and hundreds of people were
arrested.[158]
The Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Ajay Singh Bisht, from the BJP, who prefers to use a Hindu religious title, Yogi
Adityanath, vowed to “take revenge” against those protesting against the citizenship law and verification
process.[159] Adityanath has previously been charged with inciting and leading anti-Muslim violence as the
founder of a Hindu youth militia, cases from which the government withdrew after he became chief
minister.[160] He has repeatedly made hateful, anti-Muslim remarks in public, and has endorsed extrajudicial
violence by the police.[161] Nearly 80 people have been killed by police since he took office in March
2017.[162
PROCEDURE
