HRW accuses India of forcing Rohingyas into Bangladesh, Myanmar

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused India of expelling scores of Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh and Myanmar without rights protections since May 2025. Several hundred others have been arbitrarily detained, with some reporting mistreatment.

In a statement published on its website Friday, HRW said states governed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a campaign in May to expel Rohingya and Bengali-speaking Muslims labeled as “illegal immigrants.” Among those deported to Bangladesh were at least 192 UNHCR-registered Rohingya refugees. Authorities also forced 40 refugees onto a naval vessel near Myanmar’s coast and compelled them to swim ashore. Dozens more fled to Bangladesh to escape 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 HRW. “These actions reflect the ruling BJP’s policy of demonizing 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 alleged that Indian authorities assaulted them and confiscated their money, phones, and UNHCR registration cards. Three others said they fled voluntarily—one each from 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 Indian Border Security Force 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.

That same day, Delhi police detained 40 Rohingya refugees—13 of them women—under the pretext of collecting identification data. They were flown to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and forced aboard an Indian naval vessel, where they were allegedly beaten and interrogated. Once near Myanmar’s Tanintharyi coast, the crew gave them life jackets and ordered them into the sea. “We were treated like the worst criminals,” one survivor said. “An officer told us: ‘No one will hold us accountable if we kill you all.’”

Reports of Abuse

Other refugees described similar abuses. A 40-year-old UNHCR-registered man from Hyderabad said police beat him, his wife, and their two children in Tripura State on May 15 while they tried to leave India by train. “They even beat my 4-year-old daughter,” he said. Police allegedly stole his money, phones, and belongings before handing them to border officials, who forced the family across into Bangladesh after making them record a false video statement claiming they were Bangladeshi.

UN experts have repeatedly raised concerns with India. In March, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar warned of “arbitrary and indefinite detention of refugees and asylum seekers,” citing reports of ill-treatment, poor detention conditions, and deportations.

Rohingya previously had limited access to education and livelihoods in India, but since 2017, government policy has shifted toward systematic deportations. This has left the roughly 40,000 Rohingya in India—half of them UNHCR-registered—living in fear.

Growing Insecurity

HRW reported that authorities in Jammu vandalized 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.

A 29-year-old Rohingya man forced across the Bangladesh border on June 20 summed up the despair: “From one place to another, from one country to another, we are fleeing and searching for hope—which is never going to be found.”

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. In May, the court refused to halt deportations and dismissed claims that refugees were abandoned at sea, calling them a “beautifully crafted story.”

HRW urged India to immediately end arbitrary detentions and expulsions and to recognize Rohingya as refugees. “The authorities should work with UNHCR to protect their rights instead of violating them,” Pearson said.