NEW YORK: The New York-based human rights watchdog, Human Rights Watch, has said that Indian authorities have expelled scores of ethnic Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh and Myanmar without rights protections since May 2025.
Human Rights Watch said the Indian authorities have arbitrarily detained several hundred more, mistreating some of them. Those expelled to Bangladesh included at least 192 Rohingyas despite being registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The authorities also put 40 refugees on a ship near the Myanmar coast and forced them to swim ashore, the watchdog said
In May, states governed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) initiated a campaign to expel Rohingya and Bengali-speaking Muslims for being “illegal immigrants.” Those expelled to Bangladesh included at least 192 Rohingya refugees despite being registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
“The Indian government’s expulsion of Rohingya refugees shows an utter disregard for human life and international law,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch. “The actions taken against these refugees, who have fled atrocities and persecution in Myanmar, reflects the ruling BJP’s policy to demonise Muslims as ‘illegal’ migrants.”
HRW said interviews with nine Rohingya men and women in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar refugee camps revealed accounts of abuse. Six refugees expelled in May said that Indian authorities assaulted them and confiscated their money, phones, and UNHCR registration cards. Three others said they fled voluntarily — one each from Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, and Delhi — after police threatened them with arbitrary detention.
Expulsions by Force
A 37-year-old Rohingya woman detained in Assam’s Goalpara district said India’s Border Security Force (BSF) officers forced her family into Bangladesh at gunpoint on May 6. “When my husband asked where we should go, they slapped him so hard he still cannot hear properly,” she said. “They threatened to kill us if we spoke further.” The family had originally fled Myanmar in 2012 to escape military persecution.
Reports of Abuse
HRW reported that authorities in Jammu vandalised Rohingya shelters and arrested at least 30 refugees in May. One Rohingya woman said police dismissed both her UNHCR and Myanmar nationality documents, calling her a “Bengali,” before she fled to Bangladesh with her children.
India’s Supreme Court has announced it will rule on whether Rohingya are “refugees” or “illegal entrants,” with the next hearing scheduled for September 23.
HRW urged India to immediately end arbitrary detentions and expulsions and recognise Rohingya as refugees. “The authorities should work with UNHCR to protect their rights instead of violating them,” HRW’s Asia Director Pearson said.
