Indian authorities have unlawfully expelled hundreds of ethnic Bengali Muslims to Bangladesh in recent weeks without proper legal procedures, claiming they are illegal immigrants, according to a damning new report by Human Rights Watch.
The international rights organisation said many of those expelled are actually Indian citizens from states bordering Bangladesh, caught up in what it describes as discriminatory operations by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
Since May 2025, the BJP-led government has intensified operations to expel ethnic Bengali Muslims to Bangladesh, ostensibly to deter unauthorised border crossings. However, Human Rights Watch said the authorities’ claims about managing irregular immigration are unconvincing given their “disregard for due process rights, domestic guarantees, and international human rights standards.”
Border Guard Bangladesh has reported that India expelled more than 1,500 Muslim men, women, and children between 7 May and 15 June, including about 100 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. The expulsions have continued since then.
“India’s ruling BJP is fuelling discrimination by arbitrarily expelling Bengali Muslims from the country, including Indian citizens,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
The rights group interviewed 18 people in June, including affected individuals and family members, documenting cases where Indian border guards allegedly threatened and beat detainees to force them to cross into Bangladesh without adequately verifying their citizenship claims.
Authorities in BJP-run states including Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, and Rajasthan have rounded up Muslims, mostly impoverished migrant workers, before turning them over to Indian border guards.
The crackdown followed a deadly attack by gunmen against Hindu tourists in Jammu and Kashmir in April. Police subsequently began harassing Muslims, refusing to accept their citizenship claims and seizing phones, documents and personal belongings.
Khairul Islam, a 51-year-old Indian citizen and former schoolteacher from Assam state, told Human Rights Watch that on 26 May, Indian border officials tied his hands, gagged him, and forced him into Bangladesh along with 14 others.
“The BSF officer beat me when I refused to cross the border into Bangladesh and fired rubber bullets four times in the air,” he said. He managed to return two weeks later.
The Indian government has had to readmit dozens of people who eventually proved their Indian citizenship, highlighting the flawed nature of the expulsion process.
In May, Assam’s BJP chief minister confirmed authorities had “pushed back” 330 alleged illegal immigrants into Bangladesh, saying the state would bypass legal tribunals in future expulsions.
The operations have also targeted internal migrants from India’s West Bengal state working in other parts of the country. In Mumbai, authorities detained and expelled at least seven workers from West Bengal, who were only allowed to return after their state government intervened.
Human Rights Watch said India’s detention and expulsion of people without due process violates fundamental human rights. The group called on the government to ensure access to procedural safeguards including legal representation and appeal opportunities for anyone facing expulsion.
“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,” Pearson said.
Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry has called the expulsions “unacceptable,” saying it would only accept individuals confirmed as Bangladeshi citizens through proper channels.
The report also documented the forced return of Rohingya refugees, with about 40 being transferred to an Indian naval ship and forced into the sea near Myanmar with only life jackets. The UN special rapporteur on Myanmar called this “an affront to human decency” and a serious violation of international law.
