By Muslim Mirror Staff

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has shed light on human rights violations, hate crimes and crackdown on activists, journalists and other critiques of the government in India, in its World Report 2022.

Custodial death of tribal activist Stan Swamy, cases against lawyers and social media influencers by Tripura Police, targeting of students and activists over anti-CAA protests, vilification of farmers, Pegasus row, internet shutdown and harassment of journalists in Indian-administered Kashmir are the issues highlighted in the HRW report.

“The BJP government has created an atmosphere in which minorities feel unsafe, at risk of assault by ruling party supporters,” Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch said in a statement issued by the HRW.

In the 752-page World Report 2022, its 32nd edition, the HRW has reviewed human rights practices in nearly 100 countries.

The report has mentioned attacks on Muslim houses and mosques by Hindutva mobs in Tripura. It has further decried the state police’s action against lawyers and social media influencers who spoke against the violence.

“In November the police in Tripura state filed terrorism cases against four lawyers for conducting a fact-finding investigation into communal violence in October in which Hindu mobs attacked mosques and Muslim-owned properties. The police also filed terrorism cases against 102 social media accounts and detained two journalists who reported on the violence, on charges of ‘spreading communal disharmony,” the report said.

The authorities continued to press charges against numerous students and activists, including under counterterrorism and sedition laws, for protesting citizenship law amendments that discriminate against Muslims, the report added.

The report has also condemned the BJP government’s failure to provide adequate medical facilities, which led to the death of thousands during Covid-19