By Team
- Indian authorities have expelled hundreds of ethnic Bengali Muslims to Bangladesh in recent weeks without due process, claiming they are illegal immigrants.
- The authorities’ claims that they are managing irregular immigration are unconvincing given their disregard for due process, domestic guarantees, and international human rights standards.
- The Indian government should ensure access to fundamental procedural safeguards for anyone subject to expulsion and should ensure that security forces and border guards do not use excessive force.
(New York) – Indian authorities have expelled hundreds of ethnic Bengali Muslims to Bangladesh in recent weeks without due process, claiming they are “illegal immigrants,” Human Rights Watch said today. Many of them are Indian citizens from states bordering Bangladesh.
Since May 2025, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government has intensified operations to expel ethnic Bengali Muslims to Bangladesh, ostensibly to deter people from entering India without legal authorization. The government should stop unlawfully deporting people without due process and instead ensure everyone’s access to procedural safeguards to protect against arbitrary detention and expulsion.
“India’s ruling 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 authorities’ claims that they are managing irregular immigration are unconvincing given their disregard for due process rights, domestic guarantees, and international human rights standards.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed 18 people in June, including affected individuals and family members in 9 cases. Those interviewed include Indian citizens who returned to India after being expelled to Bangladesh and family members of those who were detained and are still missing. On July 8, Human Rights Watch wrote to India’s Ministry of Home Affairs with our findings but received no response.
The Indian government has provided no official data on the number of people expelled, but Border Guard Bangladesh has reported that India expelled more than 1,500 Muslim men, women, and children to Bangladesh between May 7 and June 15, including about 100 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. The expulsions have continued.
This story was originally published in hrw.org. Read the full story here.