Human Rights Watch (HRW) has alleged that Indian authorities have expelled scores of ethnic Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh and Myanmar without rights protections since May 2025.
Authorities have arbitrarily detained several hundred more, mistreating some of them, said the New York-based rights body on August 29.
In May, states in India governed by the 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 to Bangladesh despite being registered with the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), said HRW.
The authorities also put 40 Rohingya "refugees" on a ship near the Myanmar coast and forced them to swim ashore. Dozens more have fled to Bangladesh to avoid the crackdown.
“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.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed nine Rohingya men and women in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camps in Bangladesh who had recently arrived from India.
Six who had been expelled in May alleged that Indian authorities assaulted them and seized their money, mobile phones and UNHCR registration cards.
The other three fled to Bangladesh, one each from Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, and Delhi, fearing arbitrary detention after police threatened them.
An estimated 40,000 Rohingya live in India, at least 20,000 of whom are registered with the UN refugee agency.
Although India is not a party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, India is bound by the customary international law principle of nonrefoulement, which prohibits countries from returning or expelling people to places where they face threats to their lives or freedom.
In March, the UN special rapporteur wrote to the Indian government raising concerns about widespread, arbitrary, and indefinite detention of refugees and asylum seekers, including Rohingya, from Myanmar.
He also raised concerns about detention conditions, including allegations of ill-treatment and beatings, lack of access to adequate medical treatment, deaths in custody, and deportations.
Rohingya refugees, according to the HRW, previously had some access to education and livelihoods in India, but that policy changed in 2017 when the BJP government “issued detailed instructions for deportation of illegal foreign nationals including Rohingyas.”
India’s Supreme Court announced that it will decide whether the Rohingya are “refugees” or “illegal entrants,” and the rights and protections to which they are entitled.
The next hearing is scheduled for September 23.
In May, the court refused to halt the deportations and summarily dismissed the account of Rohingya refugees being abandoned at sea, calling it a “beautifully crafted story.”
“The Indian government should immediately end the intimidation, arbitrary detention, and unlawful expulsions of all Rohingya refugees and impartially investigate allegations that they were ill-treated,” Pearson said. “Indian authorities should recognise Rohingya as refugees and work with the UN refugee agency to protect their rights.”