Recommendations to the EU on a New Strategic EU-India Agenda

Introduction
Main Human Rights Concerns on India
Recommendations

Introduction

Human Rights Watch recommends that the European Union (EU)’s new strategic agenda for relations with India highlights and addresses the decline in India’s human rights record and rule of law, as well as democratic and secular values. Ending the EU’s silence on these matters and linking bilateral ties to clear and enforceable human rights obligations is key to contain and counter India’s authoritarian backsliding, and to support and protect India’s human rights and democratic institutions and civil society. Persistent failure to do so will instead further embolden the government’s repressive and divisive agenda, weaken the rule of law, and ultimately be detrimental to the EU’s pursuit of closer political, economic and security ties with India.

Below is an overview of the main areas of concern in India’s human rights record, followed by a detailed list of recommendations for the EU to address, including in its ongoing and future engagement with India’s authorities.

Main Human Rights Concerns on India

Weakening Rule of Law

Politicization of Independent Institutions

Federal law enforcement agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation are used by the Indian authorities to target human rights defenders, opposition leaders, independent media, and other critics with politically motivated allegations of corruption or financial irregularities. These accusations tend to stall or disappear against political opponents if they leave their political party to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a mechanism the opposition has dubbed the “washing machine.”

Weaponization of Laws

The government is weaponizing abusive laws, and passing new overbroad and vague laws to target human rights defenders, civil society groups and critics of the government. Notably, it uses a range of counterterrorism, foreign funding, preventive detention, and anti-money laundering laws, including the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA) and others.

The Modi government has shut down foreign funding for thousands of civil society groups, particularly those that work on human rights or the rights of vulnerable communities, using the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). Over 20,600 NGOs have lost their license to receive foreign funding in the last 10 years, many of the groups that have long promoted human rights and democracy.

The authorities also continue to arrest human rights defenders, journalists, students, and academics with impunity under the UAPA, India’s abusive counterterrorism law, under which the courts have repeatedly denied suspects bail for years. Some of the most prominent cases include Kashmiri activist Khurram Parvez in detention since November 2021, and Kashmiri journalists Irfan Mehraj and Majid Hyderi, detained since 2023. In addition, 16 prominent activists are being prosecuted in the Bhima Koregaon case, accused of being supporters of Maoist fighters; one of them died in custody, nine have received bail, while six remain in detention without trial, some for nearly six years. The courts have repeatedly questioned the evidence against them. According to reports by the US-based forensic firm Arsenal Consulting, malware was used to surveil and plant evidence on the computers of at least three accused in this case.

Indian authorities have also allegedly conducted biased investigations involving arrests of activists in cases related to the February 2020 violence in Delhi following peaceful protests against the discriminatory Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Police arrested 18 student leaders and activists, most of them Muslim, under the counterterrorism law. A majority remain in detention, some for nearly five years without trial. Six have been granted bail by various courts, which noted that the police failed to produce any evidence. In some cases, judges called the police investigations “shoddy” or “callous.”

The UN Human Rights Committee called for the review and amendment of these laws following an evaluation of India in June 2024. The same month, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – of which the European Commission and several EU states are members – following its mutual evaluation of India's regimes to counter money laundering and terrorist financing, recommended that India put in place measures to prevent the abuse of counterterrorism policies against non-governmental groups.

Accountability Bodies Weakened

The National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRCI) has repeatedly failed to address the escalating human rights violations in the country. As a result, the Global Alliance for National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) recommended to downgrade the NHRCI’s accreditation in March 2025. The national commissions to protect religious minorities, women, children, Dalits and Adivasis, and those living with disabilities, are all barely functional because of political appointments.

Incitement to Violence Against Minorities

Anti-minority speech has become normalized in India, especially targeting Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs. There has been a significant increase in hate speech by officials and ruling party leaders, including Prime Minister Modi, and incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence against marginalized groups and attacks against religious minorities. There has been an increase in mob attacks and normalization of violence against minorities especially in BJP-ruled states as the authorities have failed to take adequate action against those responsible.

The Indian government also continues to use discriminatory laws against religious minorities. As a result, millions of Muslims risk losing their citizenship. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019, that came into effect in March 2024, discriminates against Muslims, making religion the basis to fast-track citizenship. Coupled with the Indian government’s push for a nationwide citizenship verification process through a National Population Register and a proposed National Register of Citizens aimed at identifying “illegal migrants,” the law has heightened fears that millions of Indian Muslims could be stripped of their citizenship rights and disenfranchised.

“Anti-conversion laws” are enforced in at least 10 of India’s 28 states, forbidding forced religious conversion but in fact using broad and vague language that can be used to target voluntary conversion. These laws violate international human rights standards and have been used by the authorities to harass religious minorities, especially Christians from Dalit and Adivasi communities, and have emboldened vigilante violence.

Various state governments led by the BJP adopted punitive demolitions of Muslim homes and properties as a de facto state policy which was condemned by the Supreme Court of India in November 2024. However, the demolitions have continued in violation of Supreme Court guidelines, especially in BJP-ruled states.

Fresh Violence in Conflict-Ridden Areas

Jammu and Kashmir

Government claims that it has restored peace and security in the region is not borne out by recent developments. On April 22, a militant attack killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists, in Pahalgam. The authorities’ repressive response has put Muslims at risk throughout India.

Since the militant attack, security forces have imposed summary punishments, blowing up the homes of alleged militants—actions that the Supreme Court has already prohibited after similar abuses elsewhere. Angry rhetoric by nationalist broadcast networks and social media users is sparking fears of Hindu mob revenge attacks against Muslims, particularly Kashmiris. Some of India’s state governments carried out mass arrests of Muslims to identify irregular migrants. Police in the state of Uttar Pradesh filed criminal charges against two activists for posts criticizing the government’s failure to ensure security in Pahalgam.

The Jammu region, considered relatively more peaceful until 2019, saw a spike in violence in 2024, leading to the deaths of at least 15 soldiers and 9 civilians. Religious minorities and migrant workers continue to face risk of targeted attacks.

The situation in the Kashmir Valley remains repressive, with journalists and human rights defenders regularly detained under the counterterrorism and preventive detention laws, and facing systematic restrictions on their freedom of movement both within and outside the country.

Indian security forces have been implicated in arbitrary detention and extrajudicial killings. There has been no accountability for recent and past alleged extrajudicial killings and other abuses by the security forces, in part because of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), which provides members of the armed forces effective immunity from prosecution. Since the law came into force in Jammu and Kashmir in 1990, the Indian government has not granted permission to prosecute any security force personnel in civilian courts.

Manipur

India’s northeastern state of Manipur, on the border with Myanmar, has been wracked by ethnic violence since May 2023, resulting in the deaths of more than 260 people and displacing over 60,000, a consequence of the divisive politics of the former BJP chief minister. In February 2025, the central government imposed president’s rule because of the failings of the state government. India’s Supreme Court expressed concerns over what it termed the “absolute breakdown of law and order” in Manipur after the breakout of ethnic violence between the predominant, largely Hindu, Meitei community and the tribal, mostly Christian, Kuki-Zo communities. Armed groups on both sides, dormant for years, have become active again, raising concerns over continuing violence and destabilizing India’s other northeast states where peace remains fragile following several separatist insurgencies.

The European Parliament and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights have spoken out about the ongoing hostilities and abuses in Manipur.

Digital Authoritarianism

The Indian government uses technology as part of its broadening crackdown on rights, including freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly. India continues to impose the largest number of internet shutdowns globally, often to shut down protests or criticism of the government. This in turn disproportionately hurts communities living with poverty that depend on the government’s social protection measures for food and livelihoods, as the “Digital India” program has made regular internet access vital for delivering key public services.

In addition, the Personal Data Protection Act, Information Technology Act and related rules empower the authorities to undermine privacy safeguards and block online content, and enable unchecked state surveillance. India has also been implicated in using Pegasus, the spyware produced by the Israel-based company NSO Group, to target activists and political opponents.

The government has also clamped down on free speech online by frequently ordering social media platforms to block online content, and through enacting laws to regulate online content that allow for greater control and censorship.

In February 2021, the government enacted the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The IT Rules allow for greater governmental control over online content, threaten to weaken encryption, and seriously undermine media freedoms, rights to privacy, and freedom of expression online. The rules require traceability of information that compromise end-to-end encryption on platforms such as WhatsApp or Signal. The rules also require social media companies with more than five million registered users in India – which pretty much means all the major social media and messaging platforms – to appoint local staff in-country. With more of their personnel living in India, where they could face criminal liability and prosecution, companies will face more arbitrary and disproportionate government pressure to take down content or hand over data on users.

Transnational Repression

Several foreign governments have accused Indian officials of targeting terrorism suspects and separatist leaders for assassination in Canada, the United States and elsewhere. In October 2024, Canada’s national police service issued a public statement on the alleged role of Indian state agents in criminal activity on Canadian soil, including homicide, extortion and other violence. Indian authorities have canceled visas or denied entry to government critics including journalists and academics, and members of the diaspora.

In September 2022, clashes between British Hindus and Muslims in Leicester city in the UK highlighted how BJP’s ultra-nationalism is spreading beyond India’s borders and can cause harm. Officials in Leicester had pointed to how “misinformation” spread on social media had played a “huge role” in the violence and experts and analysts found that most of the incendiary tweets, rumors and lies came from India, with hashtags such as #Leicester, #HindusUnderAttack and #HindusUnderattackinUK. Meanwhile, the one-sided response from the Indian High Commission condemning the “vandalisation of premises and symbols of the Hindu religion” simply aggravated the situation. The Bangladesh interim government has accused India of misinformation and disinformation regarding attacks on minorities.