India has pushed hundreds of ethnic Bengali-speaking Muslims into Bangladesh without due process, Human Rights Watch said Thursday, accusing the government of flouting rules and fuelling bias on religious lines.
The Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has long taken a hardline stance on immigration — particularly those from neighbouring Muslim-majority Bangladesh — with top authorities referring to them as "termites" and "infiltrators".
Critics also accuse the government of sparking fear among India's estimated 200 million Muslims, especially among speakers of Bengali, a widely spoken language in both eastern India and Bangladesh.
HRW, a New York-based nonprofit, said India forcibly expelled more than 1,500 Muslim men, women, and children to Bangladesh between May 7 and June 15, quoting Bangladeshi authorities.
"India's ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) is fuelling discrimination by arbitrarily expelling Bengali Muslims from the country, including Indian citizens," Elaine Pearson, Asia director at the nonprofit, said.
"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."
New Delhi insists that people deported are undocumented migrants.
However, claims by authorities that the expulsions were to manage illegal immigration were "unconvincing", Pearson added, because of "their disregard for due process rights, domestic guarantees, and international human rights standards".
HRW said it had sent the report's findings and questions to the country's home ministry but had received no response.
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