Frank R. Wolf FoRB Victims List: India

www.uscirf.gov/victims-list

USCIRF Recommended for Country of Particular Concern

India

Updated March 2024

Muslims & Christians 

Muslims and Christians are the two largest groups detained 

for their religious beliefs. Indian authorities have arrested 

both Muslims and Christians under false claims of facilitating 

forced conversions. Religious clerics have been accused 

of arranging marriages. Muslim student activists have also 

been detained for their religious freedom advocacy, often 

under anti-terrorism laws.

Meeran Haider

religion or belief: Muslim 

arrested: April 1, 2020

reason for persecution:

Leading peaceful protests opposing 

the religiously discriminatory Citizen 

Amendment Act (CAA)

Umar Khalid

religion or belief: Unspecified 

arrested: September 13, 2020

reason for persecution:

Leading peaceful protests opposing 

the religiously discriminatory Citizen 

Amendment Act (CAA)

Dalit Rights Activists

Activists have been detained for advocating on behalf of 

Dalits (members of India’s lowest caste), as illustrated by the 

2020 arrest of 16 advocates in Bhima Koregaon. While many 

Dalits are Hindu, they face discrimination and violence and 

lack recognition in Hindu society. Dalit Christians also face 

severe religious intolerance.

Surendra Gadling

religion or belief: Unspecified

arrested: June 6, 2018

reports of medical neglect: Yes

reason for persecution: Human rights and 

civil rights work for religious and marginalized 

communities

Rona Wilson

religion or belief:

Christian 

arrested: June 6, 2018

reason for persecution:

Human rights and civil rights work for religious 

and marginalized communities

Journalists & Human Rights Activists 

With the introduction of discriminatory legislation such as the 

Citizenship Amendment Act in 2020, journalists and human 

rights activists have been targeted for their religious freedom 

advocacy efforts. This includes the detainment of journalists 

reporting on Kashmir.

Irfan Mehraj

religion or belief:

Muslim

arrested: March 20, 2023

nature of charges: Terrorism

reason for persecution:

Human rights work and journalism for 

vulnerable religious communities

Rupesh Singh

religion or belief:

Unspecified

arrested: July 17, 2022

reason for persecution:

Journalism for vulnerable religious and 

marginalized communities

FoRB Victims List Stats

55 out of 2,282

Religion or Belief # of Victims

Muslim 22

Christian 15

Unspecified 12

Hindu 4

Adivasi 1

Sikh 1

Total 55

Type of Abuse # of Victims

Detained 53

Imprisoned 1

House Arrest 1

Total 55

Reports of # of Victims

Torture 2

Medical Neglect 14

Total 16
Frank R. Wolf FoRB Victims List: India

www.uscirf.gov/victims-list

USCIRF Recommended for Country of Particular Concern

India

Updated March 2024

Frank R. Wolf FoRB Victims List Background

The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA), as amended by the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act of 2016, 

requires USCIRF to:

make publicly available, to the extent practicable...lists of persons it determines are imprisoned or detained, have 

disappeared, been placed under house arrest, been tortured, or subjected to forced renunciation of faith for their religious 

activity or religious freedom advocacy by the government of a foreign country that the Commission recommends for 

designation as a country of particular concern [CPC]...or by a nonstate actor that the Commission recommends for 

designation as an entity of particular concern [EPC]. 

USCIRF developed the Frank R. Wolf Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) Victims List—an online public database—to implement this 

provision for countries USCIRF recommends for Country of Particular Concern (CPC) or Special Watch List (SWL) status. The list also 

includes such victims located in the de facto territories of nonstate actors that USCIRF recommends for Entity of Particular Concern (EPC) 

status, according to the same criteria.

Due to limited resources, USCIRF is unable to identify and document all victims that meet the statutory requirement to be included on 

the FoRB Victims List and generally relies on receiving submissions from outside individuals and organizations. As such, the information 

contained in the database does not reflect country, regional, or global trends. Furthermore, percentages highlighted in this section should 

not be used for extrapolation purposes nor interpreted as a particular group experiencing greater violations than another or a particular 

country committing violations at a greater rate than others. To support this project, USCIRF invites those with credible information on 

victims to submit information using the Victims List Intake Form at www.uscirf.gov/form/uscirf-victims-list-intake-form. 

FoRB Victims List Stats Overall

Perpetrator Victims Documented

Algeria 5 

Azerbaijan 11 

Burma 5 

China 798 

Cuba 11 

Egypt 18 

Eritrea 61

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) 2 

Houthis 3 

India 55 

Indonesia 9 

Iran 351 

Iraq 2 

Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) 1 

Kazakhstan 16 

Malaysia 4 

Nicaragua 68 

Nigeria 9 

North Korea 11 

Pakistan 87 

Russia 488 

Saudi Arabia 50 

Sri Lanka 1 

Tajikistan 16 

Turkmenistan 31 

Uzbekistan 88 

Vietnam 81 

Total 2,282 

Religion or Belief Victims Documented

Adivasi 1 

Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light 3

Baha’i 169 

Bon 1 

Buddhist – Hoa Hao 6 

Buddhist – Theravada 3 

Buddhist – Tibetan 93 

Buddhist – Unspecified/Other 32 

Christian – Catholic 79 

Christian – Church of Almighty God 240 

Christian – Jehovah’s Witness 283

Christian – Orthodox 21 

Christian – Protestant 150 

Christian – Unspecified/Other 65 

Duong Van Minh 4 

ECKist (Eckankar) 1 

Erfan-e Halgheh Practitioner 3 

Falun Gong 217

Hindu 10 

Humanist 1 

Jewish 1 

Muslim – Ahmadiyya 20

Muslim – Qur’anist 1 

Muslim – Shi’a 40 

Muslim – Sufi 64 

Muslim – Sunni 412 

Muslim – Unspecified/Other 233

Santeria 5 

Scientologist 1 

Shaman 1 

Sikh 1 

Yarsani 38 

Unknown/Unspecified 83

Total 2,282
Frank R. Wolf FoRB Victims List: India

www.uscirf.gov/victims-list

USCIRF Recommended for Country of Particular Concern

India

Updated March 2024

Not Released

Irfan Mehraj

Abdul Rashid Dawoodi

Javed Mohammed

Jagtar Singh Johal

Rupesh Singh

Jyoti Jagtap

Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichor

Sagar Tatyarao Gorakhe

Hany Babu

Rona Wilson

Sudhir Dhawale

Mahesh Raut

Surendra Gadling

Shoma Sen

Abdullah Gautam

Qazi Jahangir Qasmi

Umar Gautam

Shifa ur-Rehman

Gulfisha Fatima

Sharjeel Imam

Meeran Haider

Khalid Saifi

Umar Khalid

Khurram Parvez

Gautam Navlakha

Released

Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba

Atikur Rahman

Teesta Setalvad

Mohammed Zubair

Anand Teltumbde

Arun Ferreira

Vernon Gonsalves

Hidme Markam

Fahad Shah

Kishor Ram

Adya

Ranga Ben

Sama Ben

Saju Ben

Kumtu Vasuniya

Ramesh Vasuniya

Savita Singh

Nandha Nathaniel

Mangu Mehtab Bhuriya

Ansingh Ninama

Jam Singh

Safoora Zargar

Kaleem Siddiqui

Ishrat Jehan

Asif Iqbal Tanha

Devangana Kalita

Natasha Narwal

Siddique Kappan

Died in Custody

Stan Swamy

Unknown

Javeed Khan