India's riot toll rises to 46 as capital remains on edge

The death toll in India’s capital from riots last week between Hindus and Muslims rose to 46, officials said Monday, a day after false rumors of new violence led to panicked calls to police in many parts of the city.

The riots in New Delhi began over a disputed new citizenship law, which led to clashes in which hundreds were injured and houses, shops, mosques, schools and vehicles were set on fire.

Tensions between Hindu hard-liners and Muslims protesting the Hindu-first policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had been building for months when the violence exploded a week ago Sunday, the eve of U.S. President Donald Trump’s state visit to India.

Opposition Congress party lawmakers shout slogans demanding resignation of Indian Home Minister Amit Shah during a protest in the Parliament premises against last week's deadly communal riots in New Delhi, India, Monday, March 2, 2020. (AP Photo)

Apart from a single tweet after the riots had almost ended, Modi has been publicly silent on the violence.

His powerful home minister, Amit Shah, has accused opposition parties of inciting the riots by spreading misinformation about the citizenship law, which fast-tracks naturalization for religious minorities from several neighboring countries but not Muslims.

The rumors spreading on Sunday included reports of armed groups marching in neighborhoods while chanting slogans, and houses being set on fire.

Congress party workers shout slogans and burn an effigy of Indian Home Minister Amit Shah as they protest against last week's deadly communal riots in New Delhi, India, Monday, March 2, 2020. (AP PhotoManish Swarup)

The panic subsided when police reached out to both Hindu and Muslim religious leaders and asked them to help maintain calm in their neighborhoods. Police also issued statements and some lawmakers took to the streets to reassure people that the situation was normal.

On Monday, India’s top court agreed to hear cases filed by riot victims accusing leaders of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party of hate speech. Some of the victims accuse Kapil Mishra, a local leader of Modi’s party who lost his Delhi state assembly seat in recent elections, of stoking the violence.

Mishra had demanded at a rally that police shut down a Muslim-led protest in the city or else he and his followers would do it themselves.

Police detain Congress party workers during a protest against last week's deadly communal riots in New Delhi, India, Monday, March 2, 2020. (AP PhotoManish Swarup)

Hours later, Hindus and Muslims fought each other with guns and swords, metal rods and axes, leaving the streets where the rioting occurred resembling a war zone.

The violence had largely subsided by Wednesday, but the Indian capital has remained on edge.

Most of the dead and injured were Muslims, with thousands fleeing their homes in fear.

Police detain Congress party workers during a protest against last week's deadly communal riots in New Delhi, India, Monday, March 2, 2020. (AP PhotoManish Swarup)

Authorities are yet to provide an official account of what sparked the violence. Police spokesman Manjeet Singh Randhawa did not respond to repeated questions about how many of the hundreds of people detained in the riots had been charged.

The violence is the latest in a long line of communal clashes that date to the British partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, when the country was split into secular, Hindu-majority India and the Islamic state of Pakistan.

A court in Russia on Tuesday designated a prominent LGBTQ+ rights group as an extremist organization, the latest blow to the country’s beleaguered community that has faced an intensified crackdown in recent years under President Vladimir Putin.

In a hearing that took place behind closed doors, the St. Petersburg City Court banned the Coming Out group as “extremist.” The authorities did not reveal any details of the lawsuit filed last month by Russia’s Justice Ministry and classified as secret.

The group, which now operates from abroad, said it will continue to help LGBTQ+ people in Russia and beyond, and fight for their rights despite the ruling.

“We have been preparing for this development for a long time. We enhanced security, developed sustainable work formats and continue to act responsibly, first and foremost for those who count on us,” Coming Out said in an online statement.

“Today it is especially important not to give into fear and not to be alone. Our community is stronger than any labels, and history has proven that.”

Coming Out is the first LGBTQ+ rights group to be designated since the 2023 Supreme Court ruling that effectively banned any LGBTQ+ activism. Similar lawsuits have been filed against two other LGBTQ+ rights groups, with courts in St. Petersburg and the Samara region still to rule on them.

Russia’s LGBTQ+ community has been under legal and public pressure for over a decade, but especially since the Kremlin invaded Ukraine four years ago. Putin has argued that the war in Ukraine is a proxy battle with the West, which he says aims to destroy Russia and its “traditional family values” by pushing for LGBTQ+ rights.

Any depiction of gay and transgender people that portrays them in a positive or even neutral light has been banned ever since. Gender-affirming medical care and changing one’s gender in official documents are prohibited.

In November 2023, Russia’s Supreme Court declared what the government called “the international LGBT movement” to be an extremist organization, exposing anyone involved with that community to prosecution and potential imprisonment.

Days after the ruling, the community was rattled by news of police raiding gay bars, nightclubs and venues that hosted drag shows in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities. Criminal cases on the charges of involvement with the “LGBT movement” have followed, and some people have faced fines for displaying what the authorities determined to be “extremist” symbols such as a rainbow flag.

The Russian authorities are seeking to make the LGBTQ+ community “as vulnerable, as lonely as possible,” said Denis Oleinik, executive director of the Coming Out LGBTQ+ rights group.

The group, formerly based in Russia’s second-largest city of St. Petersburg, has been operating entirely from abroad since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It no longer offers support groups or offline activities, but still provides psychological and legal support remotely. It also works with international organizations in advocating for LGBTQ+ rights in Russia and for helping those fleeing the country, Oleinik told The Associated Press in February.

The ruling makes it unsafe for people to share any Coming Out content publicly or for anyone inside Russia or who travels there to donate money to the group, he said.

The “extremist” designation also sometimes scares people away from reaching out for help, as well as other rights groups or media outlets from working with them, Oleinik said. There also might be risks for relatives of activists who speak openly in public.

But otherwise, “we can provide help, and receiving our help is also allowed,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Head of the Federal Treasury Roman Artyukhin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

A view of the City Court in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, during a session to decide whether to designate two prominent LGBTQ+ rights groups as extremist. (AP Photo)