Thu Jul 24 19:19:11 UTC 2025: **FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**

**Human Rights Watch Condemns India’s Deportation of Bengali Migrants, Cites Due Process Concerns**

**NEW DELHI – July 25, 2025** – Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a strongly worded statement Thursday, criticizing India’s deportation of “ethnic Bengali migrants” to Bangladesh, alleging the actions are being conducted “without following due process” and reflect “broader discriminatory policies against Muslims.”

The rights group claims the deportations are being used to “garner political support,” specifically targeting Bengali Muslims in states governed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). HRW cited news reports of migrants being rounded up in Assam, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh.

“India’s ruling party BJP is fueling discrimination by arbitrarily expelling Bengali Muslims from the country, including Indian citizens,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. The organization is calling on the Indian government to cease unlawful deportations and ensure procedural safeguards against arbitrary detention and expulsion.

HRW claims to have interviewed 18 individuals in June, including those who were deported to Bangladesh and subsequently returned to India, as well as family members of those detained or missing. They allege they contacted the Ministry of Home Affairs with their findings but received no response.

According to Border Guard Bangladesh, India expelled more than 1,500 Muslim men, women, and children to Bangladesh between May 7 and June 15, including approximately 100 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.

HRW alleges that authorities in BJP-run states, including Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, and Rajasthan, have been “rounding up Muslims, mostly impoverished migrant workers,” and handing them over to Indian border guards. In some instances, border guards allegedly “threatened and beat the detainees to force them to cross into Bangladesh” without verifying their citizenship claims.

The statement concludes that India’s detention and expulsion practices violate fundamental human rights under international law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

HRW asserts that the Indian government’s actions undermine the country’s history of providing refuge to the persecuted and endanger thousands of vulnerable people “in apparent pursuit of unauthorised immigrants.”

“The Indian government is putting thousands of vulnerable people at risk in apparent pursuit of unauthorised immigrants, but their actions reflect broader discriminatory policies against Muslims,” said Ms. Pearson.

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