India has deported over 1,600 people to Bangladesh since May 2025 without due process, according to officials from both countries. Activists and legal experts condemn the expulsions as illegal and rooted in ethnic profiling, targeting Muslims, particularly Bengali speakers across states like Assam, Gujarat, and Delhi. India’s government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, defends the actions by labeling those deported “undocumented migrants,” with senior officials historically calling them “termites” and “infiltrators.” The crackdown has instilled “existential fear” among India’s 200 million Muslims, according to rights activist Harsh Mander .
Eyewitness accounts reveal harrowing methods: security forces detain Muslims, including lifelong Indian citizens and march them at gunpoint to the Bangladesh border. In Mumbai, where mason Nazimuddin Mondal was flown to Tripura and forced into Bangladesh despite showing Indian ID documents. At least 200 deportees have been returned by Bangladesh after confirming their Indian citizenship.
India’s deportation drive violates domestic and international law, according to New Delhi lawyer Sanjay Hegde, who notes deportations require bilateral agreements and due process. Bangladesh’s Border Guards condemned the “lawless” pushbacks as “a deviation from humane governance,” citing incidents of people abandoned in forests or at sea. Rights groups highlight parallels to Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis, where India forcibly deported refugees via naval ships.
The deportations align with the Modi government’s broader Hindu nationalist agenda. Its 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) fast-tracks citizenship for non-Muslim refugees from neighboring countries, institutionalizing religious discrimination. In Assam, Muslims must prove citizenship through quasi-judicial “foreigners tribunals,” while Hindus are exempt. Chief Minister Himanta Sarma openly endorsed automatic expulsion of “illegal foreigners,” signaling escalated persecution. Activists warn the CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC) could render millions of Muslims stateless.
Bangladesh’s foreign ministry has protested India’s actions, citing ignored diplomatic letters. Meanwhile, the U.S. remains silent despite India’s collaboration in deporting 18,000 undocumented Indians from America earlier in 2025, a move which is interpreted as appeasing Trump’s anti-immigration policies. Amnesty International demands India halt deportations and ratify the UN Refugee Convention, noting its abandonment of Rohingya refugees at sea. With Bangladesh relations “icy” since a 2024 uprising toppled its pro-India government, the crisis threatens regional stability.