India’s Hindutva regime targets over 4,500 Muslims after ‘I Love Muhammad’ protest
Fact-finding report exposes police atrocities, mass arrests, and punitive demolitions as Muslim identity criminalized nationwide
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — A fact-finding report by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) has detailed a state-backed campaign of repression against Muslims in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly, turning a peaceful “I Love Muhammad” demonstration into a case study in collective punishment and criminalized faith.
The report, titled “‘I Love Muhammad’ Demonstrations in Bareilly: A Fact-Finding Report into Collective Punishment and Criminalizing Faith,” documents police atrocities, arbitrary arrests, targeted demolitions, and widespread intimidation following the September protest. According to APCR, 4,505 Muslims were booked across India and 265 arrested, including 89 in Bareilly alone.
The protest, led by cleric Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, head of the Ittehad-e-Millat Council, aimed to submit a memorandum supporting the “I Love Muhammad” campaign after police in Kanpur charged Muslims for displaying banners during Eid Milad-un-Nabi.
Despite prior notification, local authorities revoked permission for the gathering, triggering a spontaneous assembly after Friday prayers.
Police forces responded with unprovoked violence, using batons and tear gas to disperse the crowd. Over ten First Information Reports (FIRs) were later filed, implicating more than 2,000 Muslims, including Maulana Raza, under severe criminal sections.
The report describes these FIRs as “vague, repetitive, and excessively harsh,” filed without evidence of violence or hate speech.
APCR investigators recorded illegal detentions and denial of due process, including minors taken from their homes and families left uninformed. Lawyers said FIR copies were withheld and detainees were denied legal access, in open violation of constitutional safeguards.
The report also highlights punitive demolitions targeting Muslim properties — including the Raza Palace banquet hall, owned by a close aide of Maulana Raza, and several shops in Pehalwan Markaz Market, a Waqf property protected by a court stay order. Shopkeepers said the sealing was carried out without notice and under heavy police presence.
The crackdown coincided with internet shutdowns and a heavy paramilitary deployment across Muslim-majority neighborhoods. Residents described “a climate of fear and repression,” as Muslim localities were placed under surveillance while Hindu-majority areas remained unaffected.
APCR concluded that the response represented a deliberate state policy to criminalize Muslim religious expression, reflecting India’s wider pattern of institutional bias under the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The organization urged judicial intervention and called on the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to investigate the violations, release detainees held without due process, and hold officials accountable for unlawful force and property seizures.
“This is not an isolated episode,” the report stated. “The Bareilly crackdown reflects a broader agenda of criminalizing Muslim expression in the name of law and order.”
Analysts say the incident underscores India’s deepening erosion of civil liberties, where demolitions, arbitrary detentions, and censorship increasingly function as tools of political repression against religious minorities.
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