Some Indian hospital staff refuse to treat Muslim women

TWO newborn babies have died after hospitals refused to admit their Muslim mothers amid a surge in coronavirusrelated Islamophobia in India.

A Muslim woman miscarried after she was barred from receiving treatment at MGM Hospital in Jamshedpur.

Rizwana Khatun, 30, had rushed to the hospital after she began bleeding. Accused of spreading coronavirus, she was also beaten and told to clean up her own blood.

Earlier this month, a baby died in the Bharatpur district of Rajasthan after a government hospital refused to admit the Muslim mother.

Members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have blamed the spread of coronavirus on a Muslim missionary group meeting in New Delhi in mid-march.

Thousands of attendees travelled for the Tablighi Jamaat event and failed to disband, despite the national government restricting gatherings of more than 50 people. They then returned home to India’s periphery, some taking the virus with them.

The Indian government has said that 30 per cent of its 15,712 coronavirus cases are linked to the meeting, but there has been widespread under-reporting of cases. Similar gatherings within Hindu communities have escaped criticism.

Muslim leaders have welcomed an investigation into the event but said it should not be used as an excuse to target the community as a whole.

Despite this, one hospital in Meerut, in Uttar Pradesh, ran an advertisement saying it would not admit Muslims without a negative Covid-19 test. Hindus are not being asked to provide this.

Hospitals in the state of Telangana have also refused Muslims entry.

Many Muslims are reporting a rise in hostility across India and said they were being refused access to some pharmacies and grocery stores.

Inter-communal tension has remained high since Narendra Modi, the prime minister, was re-elected for a second term in 2019. Mr Modi introduced a controversial citizenship law which excludes Muslims and scrapped the long-standing autonomy enjoyed by India’s only Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir.

In February, encouraged by a politician from the BJP, Hindu-nationalist mobs attacked Muslim homes and businesses. At least 50 people died.