Erosion of Religious Freedom: The Shrinking Space for Muslim Worship and Identity in India and Kashmir


Religious expression through Islamic identity markers has increasingly become a point of restriction. The hijab incident in Uttar Pradesh, where a Muslim teacher was reportedly told to remove her headscarf or leave her job, shows how visible religious symbols are being treated as a matter of institutional control rather than protected personal faith. Such cases affect access to education and employment for Muslim women and place limits on the public expression of religious identity.

Religious education has also faced tighter regulation. The declaration of Jamia Siraj-ul-Uloom as “unlawful” under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), affecting nearly 1,000 students, disrupted structured Islamic learning. This places religious seminaries under security-based scrutiny rather than treating them as protected educational institutions under constitutional guarantees. It reduces continuity in religious
education and weakens institutional stability.

Public religious practice also faces increasing constraints in different forms, including restrictions on collective worship spaces, administrative control over gatherings and growing sensitivity around Islamic religious expression in public environments. In IIoJK, mosque-based religious life and Friday congregational practices operate within a regulated security framework that influences timing, access and organization of worship, limiting full autonomy in religious practice.

International concern over these developments has increased. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has raised concerns about restrictions on minority religious freedom in India, including constraints on worship, expanding use of legal provisions affecting religious institutions and weakening safeguards for religious expression. In May 2026, Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten also stated that “rights of minorities are under severe pressure in India,” relecting international attention on the
issue.

Reports of violence linked to religious identity also continue to surface. In early 2026, documented cases recorded the killing of Muslims in religiously motivated attacks across several states, alongside arrests linked to peaceful religious practices such as offering prayers. These incidents add to an environment where religious identity itself can become a basis for confrontation or restriction. In IIoJK, religious rights remain shaped by a long-standing security environment where civil administration and security regulation overlap. This affects the functioning of mosques, seminaries and religious gatherings, where permissions, movement controls and oversight measures influence everyday religious life. This limits the unrestricted practice of collective worship and religious organization.

The situation shows increasing pressure on religious freedom, where constitutional guarantees exist but are increasingly tested through administrative action, institutional regulation and social hostility. Muslim communities in India and IIoJK continue to face obstacles in practicing and expressing their faith freely, particularly in visible, educational and communal forms of worship.
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