India’s religious freedom has been on a “deteriorating and concerning trajectory,” according to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a federal government organization created by the US Congress to monitor religious freedom abroad. The USCIRF has advised the US State Department to designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern” due to these concerns. However, the Indian Government rejected the USCIRF report, calling it ‘malicious’.
“As per the report, “The Indian government repressed and restricted religious communities through enforcement of discriminatory legislation like anti-conversion laws, cow slaughter laws, and anti-terrorism laws. The authorities have arbitrarily detained individuals including journalists, human rights activists, and religious leaders without any due process, highlighting the violation of religious freedom.”
“Indian officials have repeatedly employed hateful and derogatory rhetoric and misinformation to perpetuate false narratives about religious minorities, inciting widespread violence, lynchings, and demolition of places of worship. In its 2024 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended that the US Department of State designate India as a Country of Particular Concern for engaging in particularly severe religious freedom violations,” claimed the report authored by senior policy analyst Sema Hasan.
“This report highlights how, throughout 2024, individuals have been killed, beaten, and lynched by vigilante groups, religious leaders have been arbitrarily arrested, and homes and places of worship have been demolished. These events constitute particularly severe violations of religious freedom,” the USCIRF report said.
“Implementation of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC), expropriation and demolition of places of worship and Muslim property, Places of Worship Act, Waqf Amendment Bill, Uniform Civil Code, while attacking religious minorities, spreading hate speech, misinformation and disinformation, cracking down on civil society and faith-based organisations, replacing India’s criminal code, were justified by government officials as necessary to protect India’s ‘cultural and linguistic heritage,” the report outlined.
