Children hold I Love Muhammad posters
In India, 4505 Muslims were booked and 285 arrested till October 7 in connection with the nationwide ‘I Love Muhammad’ protests, according to a fact-finding report by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR), as released on Friday, October 10.
Of the 285, 89 Muslims have been arrested by the Bareilly police, Uttar Pradesh.
The APCR report says that although a majority of these protests have been peaceful with no slogan raising or vandalism and arson, they were met with police firing, manhandling, lathi charge, property seizures and mass arrests.
The APCR fact-finding team interviewed lawyers who said that the arrests, including those of minors, were arbitrary, and carried out without warrants, refusal to share FIR copies and families left in the lurch about their relatives’ whereabouts.
The police did not provide any information, or rather refused to give details on why the arrests were made. Even lawyers were not given access to case papers.
The fact-finding team stated a systematic target or “punishment” against the Muslim community of India, including internet shutdown, demolitions and sealing of properties, police patrolling of Muslim localities, leading to economic disruption and fear among the local Muslim community.
The report has urged the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to investigate alleged human rights violations, disciplinary action against police officers and local authorities accountable for arrests and demolitions.
This post was last modified on October 12, 2025 5:14 pm