A petition to the United nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, D. Fernand de Varennes, calling on him to investigate the “growing human rights emergency in India, particularly the attacks on religious minorities and Dalits,” has drawn more than 40,000 signatures. The petition, launched by the South Asia Solidarity Group (SASG), a Britain-based anti-imperialist and anti-racist organisation, alleges that “there has been a massive escalation” in violence against the Muslim and Christian communities and atrocities against Dalits “since Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power at the Centre in 2014,” adding “Emboldened by the victory of the BJP, Hindu supremacist gangs with links to the ruling party, or in some parts of India directly set up by the state, are the chief perpetrators of these abuses which are occuring [sic] unchecked.”
According to the SASG, “There is a horrifying rise in the rapes, mutilation, acid attacks and other forms of violence, often followed by murder, of women and girls of all communities, but Dalit women and girls and those from religious minorities are being specifically targeted. Lynchings of Muslims and Dalits, and stripping, flogging and public humiliations have become widespread. Muslim or Dalit and so-called ‘lower-caste’ men in relationships with, or married to, Hindu or upper-caste women have been brutally attacked or murdered – in the name of protecting the purity of the women involved. Many areas, particularly in UP, but also elsewhere have seen attempts at ethnic cleansing with threats and attempts to displace long-established Muslim communities. The election of Yogi Adityanath as Chief Minister of UP, India’s most populous state, in March 2017 has clearly made the human rights situation far worse, further emboldening those perpetrating communal and caste violence in UP and spilling over to other states. Adityanath has a record of hate speech and has several criminal cases pending against him.”
In April 2018, demonstrations were held in London during Prime Minister Modi’s visit, protesting against the gang-rape and murder of the eight-year-old Muslim Bakarwal girl in Jammu, as well as the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh.
The SASG’s petition, which has been sent Dr. Fernand de Verannes, may be read here.