INDIA 2023 INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT

International Religious Freedom Report for 2023

United States Department of State • Office of International Religious Freedom

INDIA 2023 INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

REPORT

Executive Summary

The constitution provides for freedom of conscience and the right of all

individuals to freely profess, practice, and propagate religion; mandates a

secular state; requires the state to treat all religions impartially; and

prohibits discrimination based on religion. It also states citizens must

practice their faith in a way that does not adversely affect public order,

morality, or health. Ten of 28 states have laws restricting religious

conversions for all faiths. Some of these states also impose penalties

specifically against forced religious conversions for the purpose of marriage.

During the year, some members of religious minority groups challenged the

government’s ability and willingness to protect them from violence,

investigate crimes against members of religious minority groups, and

protect their freedom of religion or belief. In February, a crowd of 20,000

Christians gathered in New Delhi to protest increasing violence against them

and request greater protections for the Christian community. In March, a

group of 93 former senior civil servants wrote an open letter to Prime

Minister Narendra Modi expressing concerns regarding “continued

harassment” of Christians in particular by government officials and political

party leaders associated with the government. Christians and Muslims were

arrested under laws banning forced religious conversions, which religious

groups said in some cases were used to harass and imprison members of

religious minority groups on false and fabricated charges or for lawful

religious practices. In some cases, Christian groups said local police aided

mobs that disrupted worship services over accusations of conversion

activities or stood by while mobs attacked Christians and then arrested the

victims on conversion charges.

In December, Parliament approved new criminal laws that included

provisions to criminalize making false promises and concealing one’s identity

to sexually exploit a woman, including for marriage. Media commentators

said the new laws could be used to punish Muslim men purportedly seeking

to marry non-Muslim women to convert them to Islam. Opponents said the

new laws were unnecessary and the strict penalties were out of line with

lighter penalties given for more serious offenses. Prime Minister Modi

reiterated calls to enact a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) at the national level as

called for in the constitution instead of a system of separate personal laws

for religious communities. Muslim, Sikh, Christian, and tribal leaders and

some state government officials opposed the initiative on the grounds it was

part of a project to turn the country into a “Hindu Rashtra” (a Hindu Nation).

Some UCC proponents, including opposition politicians, said a UCC would

promote greater equality, including for women, by preventing polygamy or

inequitable inheritance within personal religious laws.

Some government and political officials made comments and took actions in

support of religious tolerance during the year. In April, Christian leaders

welcomed Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the Sacred Heart Cathedral in New

Delhi, which many in the Christian community stated they viewed as a

gesture of solidarity. During his state visit to the United States in June,

Prime Minister Modi said, “regardless of caste, creed, religion, gender –

there is absolutely no space for any discrimination [in my government].” In

December, Prime Minister Modi hosted approximately 100 Christian

representatives from different denominations at his official residence and

praised the contributions of the country’s Christians, but more than 3,200

individuals from the Christian community dissociated themselves from the

meeting, citing growing anti-minority attacks and anti-minority hate speech

by certain government officials. In April, President Droupadi Murmu met

with a Christian delegation to discuss attacks against Christians in the

country. In April, the government published a research paper that said

there was no evidence of religious discrimination in the government’s

provision of public services. In September, the National Commission for

Minorities (NCM) met with Christian leaders and said it would address cases

of persecution of Christians.

International nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) such as Human Rights

Watch (HRW), however, stated that the “actions and statements by

members and supporters of his (Modi’s) BJP party [Bharatiya Janata Party]

contradicted” government officials’ positive statements. They further stated

that the government should investigate and prosecute those responsible for

carrying out violence against members of minority groups.

The National Crimes Record Bureau reported 272 instances of communal

violence in 2022 compared with 378 in 2021(most recent data). Attacks on

members of religious minority groups, including killings, assaults, and

intimidation, occurred in various states throughout the year, including cases

of “cow vigilantism” based on allegations that Muslim men were

participating in cow slaughter or trade in beef. There were also attacks on

religious leaders, disruption of Christian and Muslim worship services,

vandalism of religious minorities’ houses of worship, and violence between

religious groups. Islamic groups in Jammu and Kashmir also reportedly

attacked non-Muslims during the year.

In December, the United Christian Forum (UCF) reported 731 attacks on

Christians in the year, compared with 599 such incidents in 2022. The UCF

data by state showed the most incidents in Uttar Pradesh (301) and

Chhattisgarh (152). In April, the government told the Supreme Court said

that the UCF exaggerated claims of attacks against Christians to create a

false narrative. In July, the UCF’s national coordinator said, “The

government data (on violence against Christians) downplays the severity of

the situation.”

During violence in Manipur that started on May 3 between minority

Christian Kuki and majority Hindu Meitei ethnic groups, Hindu and Christian

places of worship were destroyed, as well as two synagogues of the small

Bnei Menashe Jewish community. The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum

and international media said that at least 253 churches were burned down,

more than 200 persons were killed and more than 60,000 displaced due to

the violence. Most of the attacks against religious sites were reported to

have taken place in the first few days of the conflict, when the interethnic

violence was at its peak; the eventual deployment of security forces reduced

widespread violence although incidences of violence continued through the

end of the year. Because religion and ethnicity were closely linked in this

clash, it was difficult to categorize specific acts of violence as being solely

based on religious identity, but there were some reports of Meitei Hindus

attacking churches that served Meitei Christians, who also reportedly faced

pressure to convert from Christianity. One local Meitei Christian leader said

that the Meitei Christians had been “attacked from both sides.” The

Supreme Court criticized the failure of the central government and the

Manipur state government to halt the violence especially in the early stages

of the conflict, and appointed officials to investigate incidents of violence,

ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance, and rebuild homes and

places of worship.

Public celebrations of Hindu festivals sometimes resulted in communal

violence, particularly when they included processions through Muslim-

majority areas. Media and NGOs reported that these processions were led

by the BJP and affiliated Hindu nationalist groups, including Rashtriya

Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). In communal

violence in several states, including West Bengal, Bihar, and Haryana nine

persons were killed, dozens injured, and mosques, a madrassah and other

buildings destroyed or damaged. Police arrested several hundred persons in

connection with the violence, according to NGOs and local sources. In

Haryana, authorities demolished 1,208 structures in the area where there

was communal violence, with civil society organizations and international

NGOs accusing authorities of largely targeting Muslim homes and shops. A

state official said the structures belonged to persons arrested in the

violence, and that the buildings were used by rioters or were encroaching on

government land. The Punjab and Haryana High Court subsequently

ordered authorities to halt the demolitions and the Supreme Court also

condemned hate speech and calls for economic boycotts against the Muslim

community. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation expressed “deep

concern” regarding violence and vandalism against Muslims in several

states, which it said reflected “systemic targeting of the Muslim community

in India.”

Some public figures made remarks that members of religious minority

groups and Hindus said were inflammatory. Christians and Muslims in the

Bastar area of Chhattisgarh petitioned local authorities to take action

against local leaders of the BJP, the VHP, and other organizations that called

for an embargo of Christian and Muslim businesses at a rally on April 10.

Following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, international media

reported “a flood of disinformation” on social media purporting that the

country was threatened by its Muslim population, particularly in Muslim-

majority areas. In October, speakers at a conference organized by the Hindu

nationalist umbrella organization Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) said Hindus

were “raising their voice(s) against the injustice they face” because they

were being “targeted” by other groups with charges of making hate speech

around the country.

In a joint statement during Prime Minister Modi’s state visit to Washington

in June, the U.S. and Indian governments reaffirmed “their shared values of

freedom, democracy, human rights, inclusion, pluralism, and equal

opportunities for all citizens.”

During the year, senior U.S. officials continued to raise concerns about

religious freedom issues with their Indian counterparts. During his visit in

April, the Secretary of State also discussed developments in religious

freedom with women leaders. In July, the Under Secretary for Civilian

Security, Democracy, and Human Rights met with civil society organizations

and underscored the U.S. commitment to freedom of religion or belief and

freedom of expression. Throughout the year, the Ambassador, embassy,

and consulate officials, the Assistant Secretary of State and Deputy Assistant

Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, and

other official U.S. visitors engaged with government officials and members

of religious communities, including representatives of the Buddhist,

Christian, Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh faiths, to discuss the importance of

religious freedom and pluralism, the value of interfaith dialogue, and the

operating environment for faith-based organizations.

Section I. Religious Demography

The U.S. government estimates the total population of the country is 1.4

billion (mid-year 2023). According to the 2011 national census, the most

recent year for which disaggregated figures are available, Hindus constitute

79.8 percent of the population; Muslims, 14.2 percent; Christians, 2.3

percent; and Sikhs, 1.7 percent. The World Religion Database estimates the

religious group breakdown in 2020 as Hindus, 72.5 percent; Muslims, 14.5

percent; Christians, 4.9 percent; Sikhs, 1.8 percent; and agnostics, 1.2

percent. From the 2011 census, groups that together constitute fewer than

2 percent of the population include Buddhists, Jains, Zoroastrians (Parsis),

Jews, and Baha’is. In government statistics, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs

officially identifies as Hindu more than 104 million members of Scheduled

Tribes – Indigenous groups historically outside the caste system who often

practice Indigenous religious beliefs – although an estimated 10 million of

those listed as Scheduled Tribe members are Christians according to the

2011 census.

According to government estimates, there are significant Muslim

populations in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, West Bengal,

Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Assam, and the Union Territories of

Lakshadweep and Jammu and Kashmir. In Lakshadweep and Jammu and

Kashmir, Muslims account for 93 percent and 68.3 percent of the

population, respectively. Slightly more than 85 percent of Muslims are

Sunni, with the remainder mostly Shia. According to media reports, there

are an estimated 150,000 Ahmadi Muslims in the country. According to

government estimates, Christian populations are distributed throughout the

country but in greater concentrations in the northeast as well as in the

states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Goa. Three northeastern states have

majority Christian populations: Nagaland (90 percent), Mizoram (87

percent), and Meghalaya (70 percent). Sikhs constitute 54 percent of the

population of Punjab. The Dalai Lama’s office states there are significant

resettled Tibetan Buddhist communities in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka,

and Uttarakhand States, and Delhi. According to the Office of the UN High

Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and media reports, there are

approximately 100,000 Tibetan Buddhists in the country. According to

media reports, approximately 40,000 Muslim Rohingya refugees from Burma

live in the country.

Section II. Status of Government Respect for Religious

Freedom

Legal Framework

The constitution mandates a secular state and provides for freedom of

conscience and the right of all individuals to profess, practice, and propagate

religion freely, subject to considerations of public order, morality, and

health. It prohibits government discrimination based on religion, including

for employment, as well as religiously based restrictions on access to public

or private establishments. The constitution states that religious groups have

the right to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable

purposes, manage their own affairs in religious matters, and own, acquire,

and administer property. It prohibits the use of public funds to support any

religion. National and state laws make freedom of religion or belief subject

to public order, morality, and health. The constitution stipulates that the

state shall endeavor to create a uniform civil code applicable to members of

all religions across the country.

Federal law empowers the government to ban religious organizations that

“provoke intercommunal tensions or are involved in terrorism or sedition.”

Ten of the country’s 28 states –Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal

Pradesh, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, and

Uttar Pradesh – have laws restricting religious conversion by

misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement, fraud, or

marriage (done for the sole purpose of unlawful conversion).

Under these anticonversion laws, prohibited forms of religious allurement

for conversion include the provision of gifts, promises of a better life, free

education, and other standard charitable activities. These laws also bar

individuals from abetting such conversions. The laws in those 10 states also

require individuals wishing to convert to another religion and clergy

intending to officiate at a conversion ceremony to submit formal notification

to the state government for public notice, and this reporting requirement

has reportedly been applied to rites such as baptisms. The notification

procedures require state police to determine if there are objections to the

conversion. For many of these laws, the burden of proof to demonstrate

that a religious conversion was not affected through misrepresentation,

force, coercion, or other prohibited manner lies on the person accused of

the conversion, rather than the accuser.

Violators of anticonversion laws are subject to imprisonment or fines. In

Chhattisgarh, for example, violators may face sentences of up to three

years; in Madhya Pradesh, up to four years if the converts are children,

women, or members of Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes; in Karnataka,

up to five years. Gujarat mandates prior permission from the district

magistrate for any form of conversion and punishes “forced” conversions

with up to three years in prison and a fine of up to 50,000 rupees ($600).

Gujarat imposes the same fine and between three and 10 years in prison for

forcible or fraudulent religious conversions through marriage. Haryana

imposes one to five years in prison and a fine of not less than 100,000

rupees ($1,200) for “forced” religious conversions and three to 10 years in

prison and a fine of not less than 300,000 rupees ($3,600) if the conversion

is carried out through marriage. Haryana law also specifies that any

marriages found to be carried out for the purpose of religious conversion

shall be annulled. In Himachal Pradesh, penalties for “forced” or fraudulent

religious conversion of any kind include up to two years’ imprisonment,

fines of 25,000 rupees ($300), or both. Uttarakhand sentences those

convicted of mass conversions (defined as involving one or two persons) up

to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 50,000 rupees ($600). Uttarakhand

also sentences violators to up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to

25,000 rupees ($300) for forcibly converting a member of the Scheduled

Tribes or Scheduled Castes.

Under the laws of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, authorities may prohibit

proselytizing near any place of worship. Punishment for violations may

include imprisonment for up to three years and fines of up to 5,000 rupees

($60). The laws in those states also ban the propagation or practice of any

non-Hindu religion in localities designated as “temple towns” because of the

number of significant Hindu temples located in those areas. Karnataka’s

anticonversion law allows for imprisonment of three to five years and a fine

of up to 25,000 rupees ($300) in the case of proselytizing persons from

general categories and imprisonment of three to 10 years and a fine of up to

50,000 rupees ($600) for forcibly converting children, women and persons

from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities.

Although there is no specific mention of hate speech in the law, the federal

penal code criminalizes “promoting enmity between different groups on

grounds of religion” and “acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony,”

including acts causing injury or harm to religious groups and their members.

The penal code also prohibits “deliberate and malicious acts, intended to

outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious

beliefs.” Violations of any of these provisions are punishable by

imprisonment for up to three years, a fine, or both. If the offense is

committed at a place of worship, imprisonment may be for up to five years.

The Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) requires religious groups

and other NGOs that receive foreign funding to be licensed by the Ministry

of Home Affairs before accepting or transferring foreign funds. This license

must be renewed every five years. Federal law further requires NGOs that

are registered under the law, including religious organizations, to maintain

audit reports for their accounts and a schedule of their activities and to

provide these to state government officials upon request. The central

government may reject a license application or a request to transfer funds if

it judges the recipient to be acting against “harmony between religious,

racial, social, linguistic, or regional groups, castes, or communities.”

The FCRA requires that NGOs, including religious organizations, use no more

than 20 percent of their funding for administrative purposes and are

prohibited from transferring foreign funds to any other organization or

individual, limitations that many NGOs stated they found challenging to

maintain their operations.

The constitution states any legal reference to Hindus is to be construed to

include followers of Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism, meaning they are

subject to laws regarding Hindus, such as the Hindu Marriage Act.

Subsequent legislation continues to use the word Hindu as a category that

includes Sikhs, Buddhists, Baha’is, and Jains, but it identifies the groups as

separate religions whose followers are included under the law.

Federal law provides official minority status to six religious groups: Muslims,

Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Jains, and Buddhists. State governments may grant

minority status under state law to religious groups that are minorities in a

particular region. Members of recognized minority groups are eligible for

government assistance programs. The constitution states that the

government is responsible for protecting minorities and enabling them to

preserve their culture.

The constitution stipulates that the state shall endeavor to create a uniform

civil code applicable to members of all religions across the country, but

various personal laws, instead of a uniform civil code, apply to members of

different religious communities in matters of marriage, divorce, adoption,

and inheritance based on religion, faith, and culture. Examples include the

Hindu Marriage Act, the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, and the Indian

Christian Marriages Act. Such Hindu, Christian, Parsi, Jewish, and Islamic

personal status laws are legally recognized, judicially enforceable, and cover

98 percent of the population. Personal status issues that are not defined for

a community in a separate law are covered under Hindu personal status

laws. These laws generally do not supersede national and state legislation

or constitutional provisions. Some personal status laws, however, exist in

violation of national or state legislation, such as the Muslim Personal Law

(Shariat) Application Act of 1937 which sanctifies polygamy, denies alimony

to divorced women, and provides female relatives less inheritance than

male relatives. Some personal status laws have been challenged in court,

but these cases are rare. The government grants autonomy to the All India

Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and the Parsi community to define

their customary practices. If law boards or community leaders are not able

to resolve disputes, cases are referred to the civil courts.

All couples marrying in a civil ceremony, which often includes interfaith

couples, are generally required to provide public notice 30 days in advance –

including addresses, photographs, and religious affiliation – for public

comment, although this requirement varies by state. Hindus, Muslims,

Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jains who marry outside their religions face the

possibility of losing their property inheritance rights under the personal

status laws pertaining to those communities.

The law recognizes the registration of Sikh marriages but does not include

divorce provisions for Sikhs. Divorce and other Sikh personal status matters

fall under Hindu codes. Under the law, any person, irrespective of religion,

may seek a divorce in civil court.

The constitution prohibits religious instruction in government schools. The

law permits religious instruction in private religious schools. The law

permits some Muslim, Christian, Sindhi (Hindu refugees), Parsi, and Sikh

educational institutions that receive government support to set quotas for

students belonging to the religious minority in question. For example,

Aligarh Muslim University must admit at least 50 percent Muslims. St.

Stephen’s College in New Delhi and St. Xavier’s in Mumbai must admit at

least 50 percent Christians.

Twenty-five of the 28 states apply partial to full restrictions on bovine

slaughter. Penalties vary among states and may vary based on whether the

animal is a cow, calf, bull, or ox. The ban mostly affects Muslims and

members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes that traditionally

consume beef or handle, transport, and slaughter cattle. In most of the

states where bovine slaughter is banned, penalties include imprisonment for

six months to two years and a fine of 1,000 to 10,000 rupees ($12 to $120).

In Assam, penalties include minimum imprisonment of three years or a fine

of between 300,000 and 500,000 rupees ($3,600 to $6,000) or both, without

eligibility for bail prior to trial for slaughtering, consuming, or transporting

cattle. In Karnataka, the slaughter of all cattle, except for buffalo older than

13 years, is illegal, with violators subject to imprisonment of between three

and seven years and penalties of between 500,000 and 1,000,000 rupees

($6,000 to $12,000). Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and

Jammu and Kashmir penalize cow slaughter with imprisonment of two to 10

years. Gujarat state law mandates a minimum 10-year sentence and a

maximum sentence of life in prison for killing cows, selling beef, or illegally

transporting cows or beef.

Madhya Pradesh imposes fines of 25,000 to 50,000 rupees ($300 to $600)

and prison sentences of six months to three years for “cow vigilantism,” i.e.,

committing violence in the name of protecting cows. This is the only law of

its kind in the country.

The National Commission for Minorities, which by law is to include

representatives from the six designated religious minority groups and the

National Human Rights Commission, investigates allegations of religious

discrimination. Two of the commission’s seats reserved for religious

minorities are vacant. The commission works under the Ministry of Minority

Affairs which is responsible for the formulation of overall policy and

planning, coordination, evaluation, and review of regulations and programs

for the benefit of all minority communities, including religious minorities.

Eighteen of the country’s 28 states and the National Capital Territory of

Delhi have state minorities commissions. These commissions have no

enforcement powers but may make recommendations to the government

on how to adhere to treaties and other international instruments, conduct

investigations based on written complaints of criminal or civil violations

(including religious discrimination), submit findings to law enforcement

agencies, and make recommendations for restitution for victims.

The constitution establishes the legal basis for preferential public benefit

programs for Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe communities, as well as

members of the “other backward classes,” a category for groups deemed to

be socially and educationally disadvantaged. The constitution specifies that

only Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists are eligible to be deemed members of a

Scheduled Caste. As a result, Christians and Muslims qualify for benefits

only if deemed to be members of “backward” classes due to their social and

economic status.

The government requires foreign missionaries to obtain a missionary visa.

The country is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political

Rights.

Government Practices

Abuses Involving Violence, Detention, or Mass Resettlement

There were reports of state inaction in investigating and prosecuting crimes

against members of religious minority groups. Some human rights

organizations said this emboldened those who sought to commit violence

against members of religious minorities, and some groups representing

religious minorities said they lacked confidence in the government’s ability

and willingness to protect them from violence or investigate crimes against

members of religious minorities.

On February 19, a crowd of Christians estimated by the media to number

more than 20,000 gathered in New Delhi to call the attention of the

government to what they said was increasing violence against Christians and

Christian institutions. Some speakers at the protest said they had faith in

the country’s leadership and legal system to protect them, but other

participants expressed doubts about the government’s commitment to

address their concerns and said incidents of violence against the Christian

community were indicative of a broader trend of discrimination against

minorities in the country.

One of the protest organizers told media that Christians had yet to see

action on what he said was the Prime Minister’s promise in 2015 to “secure

religious freedom for every citizen.” The leaders of the protest signed a

memorandum to Prime Minister Modi, President Murmu, and other

government officials requesting “justice from the government for the

indiscriminate violence against Christians, guidance to empower law

enforcement authorities to provide better protection [for Christians], and

stricter actions against the disruptive vigilante groups who impede religious

freedom in the country and operate with impunity.” The leaders also asked

the government to create a separate commission to address the issue of

targeted religion-based violence against members of religious minority

groups, especially Christians; quickly close legal cases based on false

accusations of forced conversion; rebuild churches which they stated were

illegally demolished; and adequately investigate and follow due process

regarding accusations of forced conversion and reports of religious-based

violence or discrimination.

Following the protests, on April 13, President Murmu met with a Christian

delegation led by Catholic Archbishop of New Delhi Anil Couto. In a press

statement issued after the meeting, the delegation said it discussed “the

many targeted attacks” against Christians in the country. President Murmu

did not release an official statement, but one media outlet reported that she

promised to take “necessary steps to stop rising anti-Christian violence.” On

April 25, Prime Minister Modi met with Christian leaders in Kerala; media

reported that he pledged during that meeting to ensure the protection of

the Christian community nationwide.

In April, the government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court in response

to a 2022 request by Catholic Archbishop of Bangalore Peter Machado and

the NGOs National Solidarity Forum and the Evangelical Fellowship of India

that the government investigate attacks against Christians. The government

affidavit said that the Christian petitions gave an “exaggerated and wrong

impression” of the attacks and that a majority of incidents alleged as

Christian persecution were either “wrong or wrongfully projected.” The

government affidavit stated that 263 of the 495 incidents cited by the

petitioners had not been reported to police. In May, Archbishop Machado

and the Christian groups filed a counter-affidavit in which they said that

attacks against Christians around the country were “not spontaneous or

unconnected” but part of a “well-planned” strategy by Hindu groups, and

that such attacks coincided with some states enacting religious conversion

laws. The Christian petitioners asked the Supreme Court to appoint a

monitoring agency led by a retired Supreme Court justice to supervise the

criminal investigations underway into some of the anti-Christian incidents in

“troubled spots” around the country. In June, the UCF said Christians were

facing more First Information Reports (FIRs) from police than their accused

attackers due to “the police’s failure to investigate and prosecute

perpetrators of such mob violence.” In July, the UCF asked the Supreme

Court to appoint a special investigation team comprised of retired national

police officers to investigate attacks against Christians. The Supreme Court

was considering the case and the related petitions at year’s end.

On April 21, UCF national coordinator A.C. Michael wrote a letter to Prime

Minister Modi stating, according to media outlets and other NGOs, that

Christians were being harassed and imprisoned on false and fabricated

charges of conversion in states that had laws preventing religious

conversion. Michael wrote there was “aggression by vigilante mobs

comprised of religious extremists, acts of violence against Christian leaders

and members, church arson and vandalism, disruption of prayer services,

and forced conversion to Hinduism.” The letter expressed concern about

the safety of Christian schools in India from violent mob attacks by Hindu

groups.

According to media reports, the Prime Minister’s Office acknowledged

receiving the letter and opened a file on the government’s Public Grievances

Portal. In addition, Chairman of the NCM Iqbal Singh Lalpura met with

Christian groups, including the UCF, in September. According to the UCF,

after the meeting, Singh Lalpura said the commission would address cases of

persecution of Christians; he proposed that a team from the NCM and

Christian groups tour some of the areas where persecution occurred

regularly. Some Christian leaders told media there was little to reassure

them that the administration of Prime Minister Modi was serious about

addressing what they stated was the ongoing persecution of Christians in

the country. The UCF spokesman said that the NCM still lacked the required

Christian representative, for example. Some outside observers also stated

that government actions targeted members of religious minorities, and that

the government failed to protect members of religious minorities from

attacks.

In March, a group of 93 former senior civil servants wrote an open letter to

Prime Minister Modi expressing concerns regarding “continued harassment,

through speech and criminal action, of minority groups in the country by

persons associated with your government, your party, organizations

connected to it, and by mischief makers from amongst the public.” The ex-

bureaucrats, who called themselves the Constitutional Conduct Group,

called for the Prime Minister’s attention, in particular to the rising

incidences of attacks and persecution against the Christian minority, often

due to allegations of forcible conversion. The group wrote, “Our

Constitution clearly spells out that all citizens, irrespective of religion, are

equal and have equal rights, but we are compelled to protest to you against

the increasing incidents of outright discrimination against Christians

occurring in recent times.”

In their letter, the group stated, “It is troubling that violence against

Christians in different parts of the country has persisted and has increased in

recent years.” The group called on Modi “as Prime Minister of our country,

and of all of its people, including Muslims, Christians, and other religious

minorities, and as a leading member of the BJP, to speak out against these

outrageous acts, and to ensure that the police and other officials prevent

such incidents from recurring. Christians today and all other minorities need

to be reassured that they are no less citizens of India than their Hindu

brethren.” The group, which included former cabinet secretaries, police

officials, and diplomats from various religious groups, wrote a similar letter

to Prime Minister Modi in 2022, urging him to take stronger actions to

protect Muslims. There was no public response from the Prime Minister to

either letter as of the end of the year.

On July 31, Indian railway security official Chetan Singh shot his superior

officer and three Muslim men on a train near Mumbai. Singh killed the

officer following an argument, then shot the Muslims who were located in

other cars of the train. In a video taken after the attack, Singh warned

Muslims to vote only for Prime Minister Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief

Minister Yogi Adityanath, both Hindus and members of the BJP. Police

arrested Singh as he exited the train and he was remanded into custody on

August 11, charged with homicide and promoting enmity between religions,

according to media reports.

During the year, police and some courts acted on past cases involving the

death, injury, or detention of members of religious minority groups or

violence between religious groups. On March 3, Gujarat police arrested 10

more individuals charged with involvement in April 2022 communal violence

in Khambat, Gujarat, which erupted after a Hindu religious procession for

the Hindu Ram Navami holiday moved through a predominantly Muslim

neighborhood there.

In its latest World Report, HRW said police “failed to properly investigate

crimes against minorities while administrative officials responded by

summarily punishing victim communities, including those who protested

such abuses.”

In April, in response to a petition filed in 2021, a court in Uttar Pradesh

acquitted 41 Hindu men charged with killing Muslims during the communal

violence in Maliana village in 1987; the court ruled there was lack of

evidence for the charges. Local Muslims and surviving family members of

the victims said they were very disappointed by the court’s action.

According to BBC News, former director general of the Uttar Pradesh police

Vibhuti Narain Rai and others filed the petition which led to the acquittals

because the original investigation was “faulty from the start.” Local Muslims

requested a new investigation, another trial, compensation for the victims

and a re-examination of the role of the state’s Provincial Armed

Constabulary in the violence. In May, one of the victims, Rais Ahmed,

challenged the acquittals in the Allahabad High Court. The state

government separately challenged the acquittal noting it did not agree with

the ruling.

Also in April, a court in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, acquitted, for lack of evidence,

69 Hindus who had been charged with the killing of 11 Muslims during

communal riots in that state in 2002. The attorney for the victims said they

would appeal the decision to a higher court. Those acquitted, who were all

free on bail, included former Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi and VHP

leader Jaydeep Patel, according to media reports. More than 1,000 persons,

mostly Muslims, were killed in the 2002 riots. Of the 18 others sentenced

for the killings, 17 have since died and former BJP legislator Maya Kodnani

was released because of poor health in 2018.

The Bilaspur High Court in Chhattisgarh granted bail on April 19 to 10

Protestant church leaders who were arrested in January following a series of

violent clashes between members of the Scheduled Tribe community and

tribals who converted to Christianity in the Narayanpur and Kondagon

districts of that state. According to a Christian news source, 33 Christian

villages were attacked by the tribe members after the Christians refused to

renounce their religion; many Christians were injured. Media reported that

police arrested both Scheduled Tribe individuals and tribal Christians; some

Christian leaders were charged with rioting, being armed with deadly

weapons, voluntarily causing hurt to public servants on duty, and criminal

intimidation and assault. If convicted, they could face fines and up to 10

years in prison, according to media reports. One Christian leader said they

“had no role in the violence” but were implicated in the case simply because

they were “visiting the victims.” Another said the Christian leaders were

arrested to appease the Scheduled Tribe community, which comprised a

large majority of the population.

On July 5, a court in Jharkhand’s Seraikela-Kharsawan District sentenced 10

men to 10 years each in prison on murder charges for the 2019 lynching of

Muslim Tabrez Ansari. Ansari died after being tortured and forced to chant

Hindu slogans by a mob that accused him of theft.

On July 13, the Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Kochi,

Kerala convicted six Muslim members of the banned Popular Front of India

(PFI) in the second trial involving a 2010 attack against Christian Professor, T.

J. Joseph in Kerala. The accused were convicted after chopping off Joseph’s

right hand for allegedly blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad in a question

he drafted for a college examination. Three of the six were sentenced to life

in prison; the others to three years in prison each.

On August 7, the Supreme Court began the final hearing on several

petitions, including one from the victim, a Muslim woman named Bilkis

Bano, challenging the 2022 release of 11 Hindu men sentenced to life in

prison after being convicted of gang raping the victim during the 2002

Gujarat riots; the men were also convicted of killing 14 members of her

family including her three-year-old daughter. The men were released after

serving 15 years in prison, leading to criticism from opposition parties,

activists, and several journalists, who said the decision discriminated against

the country’s Muslims and was a “grave miscarriage of justice.”

In October, the Gujarat High Court sentenced four policemen to 14-days in

prison and fined them 2,000 rupees ($24) each for publicly flogging four

Muslim men in Undhela village in 2022. The court suspended the sentence

for 90 days to give the policemen time to appeal the verdict. The police

flogged the men as they were arresting them for throwing stones at a Hindu

religious festival and injuring seven persons, including a policeman.

An investigation continued at year’s end into the April 2022 Hindu-Muslim

clashes in Hubballi, Karnataka, regarding a WhatsApp profile status shared

by a college student that allegedly showed a saffron flag, a Hindu symbol,

flying over Mecca. The police arrested 158 persons; nine were released on

bail as of June. A trial was also underway at year’s end.

Courts took actions during the year related to 2022 remarks by suspended

BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma that were seen as critical of Prophet

Muhammad. In July, a court in Mumbai denied bail to Muslim Yusuf Khan,

one of the 11 accused of murder in the June 2022 killing of Hindu

pharmacist Umesh Kolhe in Amravati, Maharashtra, after Kolhe shared a

social media post that supported Sharma’s remarks. Media reported that

the case of Khan and four of the other accused continued. The five were

under arrest, but there was no information available concerning the other

six accused.

The trial continued at year’s end in the June 2022 killing of Hindu Kanhaiya

Lal Teli in Udaipur, Rajasthan, by two Muslim men who recorded the act on

their phone. The National Investigation Agency charged 11 persons under

various sections of the penal code and the Unlawful Activities Prevention

Act related to a terror conspiracy. The accused said they killed Teli for his

social media posts supporting Sharma’s remarks.

There were several court decisions and some court actions related to the

2020 protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the

related Hindu-Muslim communal riots in New Delhi. The CAA, which was

passed by Parliament in 2019 but had not come into effect by the end of the

year, would provide a fast track to citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists,

Jains, Parsis, and Christians who illegally entered the country from

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or Pakistan before 2014. Minorities not explicitly

included in the CAA including minority Muslim communities and religious

minorities outside of the three countries specified in the CAA would be

ineligible for this expedited path to citizenship. On March 10, a Delhi court

sentenced nine Muslims to seven years in prison for their role in the

Hindu-Muslim communal riots and fined them 20,000 rupees ($240) each

to be paid as compensation to the victims. On November 21, the Delhi

High Court began considering bail pleas by six of those arrested during the

riots, including Muslim Khalid Saifi, founder of the NGO United against

Hate, who was charged under antiterrorism laws for organizing the

protests; he remained in custody as of the end of the year. Media reported

that 172 persons, including Hindus and Muslims arrested for their roles in

the violence, remained in jail.

The Supreme Court took no action on the bail plea of Muslim student Umar

Khalid, who was arrested and imprisoned following the riots, despite saying

in September that the court would review his case. A New Delhi sessions

court heard arguments concerning the bail applications of other accused

protest organizers, but did not render verdicts.

Abuses Limiting Religious Belief and Expression

There were numerous reports of authorities acting in response to

complaints of “forced” religious conversions during the year, including

arresting Christians and Muslims accused of forcing others to convert and

arresting Hindus who attacked those accused of forcing others to convert.

Some religious organizations stated that anticonversion laws were used to

justify actions restricting the right of individuals to engage in religious

activities. Although none of the anticonversion laws in the country mention

particular faiths, sources stated that in practice they were enforced only

against individuals who converted to Islam or Christianity; there were very

few cases involving conversion to Hinduism, voluntary or otherwise. In

some cases, Christian groups said police aided mobs who disrupted worship

services accused of forcibly converting Hindus or stood by while mobs acted

against Christians. NGOs and media reports noted convictions under

anticonversion laws were rare although arrests and legal cases filed under

such laws significantly disrupted the lives of those charged.

Media reported that as of May, 855 arrests had been made under Uttar

Pradesh’s anticonversion law since it was introduced in 2020. Another

report from the NGO International Christian Concern (ICC) said 398

Christians had been arrested under the state’s anticonversion law since its

inception. A local NGO said that the overwhelming number of accused

under the Utta Pradesh law were either Muslim or Christian. There were no

figures available reporting the total number of arrests under this law in

2023, but there were no reports of Hindus being arrested under this law. In

the Azamgarh District of that state, media reports said that on May 18, the

police arrested 18 persons as part of a gang that allegedly carried out illegal

conversions to Islam. According to police, the group decorated an area of a

slum in Chirkihit village to look like a shrine, then attracted people with

“lucrative offers” (unstated) for conversion while praising Islam and

criticizing Hinduism. In the same area in July, police arrested 20 Christians

on charges of conversion in two cases, according to ICC, after a crowd

described as Hindu nationalists ransacked a local tent used by Christians for

prayer gatherings. None of the crowd was arrested, according to ICC.

One Christian leader told ICC that at least 57 Christians were in prison in

Uttar Pradesh on anticonversion charges as of July. Union of Catholic Asian

News (UCA News), citing other media reports, said 91 Christians were in

detention in that state under conversion charges as of August. Christian

leaders in Uttar Pradesh told UCA News that “hardline” Hindu groups in the

state “misuse the state's anticonversion law to file false complaints against

Christians.” The Irish NGO Church in Chains reported that police arrested 22

pastors for conversion activities in the Azamgarh, Ghazipur, and Jhansi

Districts in Uttar Pradesh on July 30, including a pastor and his wife who

were briefly jailed with their one-year-old. Most of those detained were

freed on bail within 10 days. A Christian leader in the state told the NGO

that “the situation has reached such a stage that holding a prayer service or

reading the Bible at home can land you in jail.”

The media outlet AsiaNews reported that in Chhattisgarh on April 30, police

briefly arrested 13 Christians who had been holding a prayer service in a

private home. The Christians called the police after a crowd of Hindu

Bajrang Dal activists gathered outside the home to protest the meeting and

shouted Hindu chants. The Christians said that when police arrived one

hour later, they charged the organizers of the meeting with disturbing the

police and accused them of converting individuals to Christianity, but took

no action against the protestors, some of whom were armed. After the

incident, Archbishop of Raipur Victor Henry Thakur, chairman of the Council

of Catholic Bishops of Chhattisgarh, said that the government was detaining

Christians on “baseless” conversion allegations by “right-wing extremists” in

such incidents while those who caused the disturbances went free.

On June 24, Odisha police filed a case under that state’s Freedom of Religion

Act against India-born Canadian national Mohan Kidangalil Eapen. He and

two others were charged with “luring tribal children under the pretext of a

prayer meeting” and attempting to convert them to Christianity. The police

registered the case after VHP activists stopped Eapen from organizing the

meeting and handed him over to police. Indian media reports said Eapen

was in the country on a tourist visa which forbids conducting religious

activities. These reports quoted VHP leaders who said the meeting was

meant for religious conversion, but the local pastors who hosted Eapen said

the event was a private birthday gathering. The National Commission for

Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on July 4 wrote to the Jagatsingpur

District magistrate asking for a report on the incident and legal action

against Eapen. The NCPCR said that Eapen and the others were trying to

convert 11 minor children.

During the year, some courts acted on past cases involving allegations of

illegal religious conversion. In February, Vijay Masih, a pastor jailed

following a Maundy Thursday service in 2022 that Hindus said illegally

converted persons to Christianity, was denied release from jail in Uttar

Pradesh, despite being approved for bail by the Allahabad High Court in

January. The Uttar Pradesh government extended his sentence because of

new charges filed by Hindu groups, the media said. Masih, the pastor of an

Evangelical Church of India congregation in Fatehpur, was one of 50

Christians who were arrested after a crowd of Hindus disrupted the 2022

service. Media reported he was originally arrested and released in April

2022, then rearrested in October 2022.

In a related case, Christian media reported in March that the Supreme Court

ordered that two other men accused of illegal religious conversion in the

Maundy Thursday 2022 incident should not be arrested “pending further

orders”; the decision overturned a lower court ruling ordering their arrest.

The two brothers, Rajendra Bihari Lal (vice chancellor) and Vinod Bihari Lal

(director) were officials at the Christian-run Sam Higginbottom University of

Agriculture, Technology and Sciences in Uttar Pradesh.

In May, the Bombay High Court revoked a 2022 administrative order

banning Christian Pastor Dominic D’Souza and his wife from carrying out

religious activities. According to media reports, the Bombay High Court said

there was no material on record to justify the order, which violated the

couple’s “fundamental rights enshrined in Articles 19, 25 and 26 of the

Constitution of India as it seeks to deny them both of their freedom of

speech and expression and to their freedom of conscience and the right to

freely profess, practice, propagate their religion or form religious

institutions.” The couple had been arrested in 2022 under Goa’s Drugs and

Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act for allegedly enticing a

person to convert to Christianity and for promoting enmity between groups

on the grounds of religion. The Bombay High Court granted them bail the

day after their arrest. The investigation into their conversion case was

ongoing as of December 31.

During the year, the government acted to criminalize marrying or having

intercourse by employing deceitful means. In December, both houses of

Parliament approved laws which amended colonial-era rules to criminalize

making false promises and concealing one’s identity to sexually exploit a

woman, media reported. The new laws set penalties of up to 10 years in

prison for those crimes and set specific penalties for other crimes against

women such as rape of a minor and gang rape. When he introduced the

legislation in March, Home Minister Amit Shah said, “Crime against women

and many social problems faced by them have been addressed in this bill.

For the first time, intercourse with women under the false promise of

marriage, employment, promotion and false identity will amount to a

crime.” Opponents such as Congress Party Member of Parliament (MP)

Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the new laws were unnecessary and out of

alignment with the lighter penalties given for what he said were more

serious offenses, such as bribery or provoking a riot. Although the new

penal code did not mention religion, some critics and proponents of the law

said provisions on deceit by “suppressing identity” aimed to criminalize

“love jihad,” a derogatory term referring to Muslim men seeking to marry

women from other faiths to convert them to Islam.

On March 23, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis

informed the state legislative council that the state government would study

the laws adopted in other states to criminalize “love jihad” with the goal of

introducing new legislation or amending existing law in response to what he

said was the public demand as demonstrated in rallies in the state.

Following state elections in May, the new Karnataka cabinet announced it

would repeal the state’s 2022 anticonversion law, introduced by the

previous BJP government, during the legislative session that began in July.

As of December 31,the law had not been repealed. Archbishop Machado,

who led the coalition of religious groups and NGOs that challenged the 2022

law, said it was “discriminatory, anticonstitutional and unnecessary.” Before

the new state government took office, police registered 21 cases of violating

anticonversion laws in Karnataka in 2022-23.

The courts also ruled on state-level anticonversion laws during the year. In

January, during a hearing on the Madhya Pradesh law governing religious

conversions, Supreme Court Justice M.R. Shah stated that “all religious

conversions cannot be presumed to be illegal,” according to media reports.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear a Madhya Pradesh government appeal

against a 2022 Madhya Pradesh High Court decision that suspended a

mandatory provision in that state’s law requiring a person who desired to

convert to another faith to give 60 days’ prior notice to the local district

magistrate. That provision in the current Madhya Pradesh law imposed

sentences of three to five years in prison and a fine up to 50,000 rupees

($600) for anyone who refused to provide the required preconversion

notice.

The Supreme Court also asked in January that petitioners challenging

anticonversion laws in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and

Madhya Pradesh present a consolidated petition to the court by February.

In March, the Supreme Court asked all states facing challenges to their

anticonversion laws to respond to petitioners by April. Those states include

the five states the Supreme Court mentioned in January, plus Jharkhand,

Chhattisgarh, and Odisha. The NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace filed the

challenges in all eight states against their anticonversion laws. The states

had not filed their responses by year’s end.

In its annual report, HRW said the government “persisted with policies that

discriminated and stigmatized religious and other minorities.” This led to

“increasing incidents of communal violence in many parts of the country.”

HRW said “police in BJP-governed states failed to properly investigate

crimes against minorities while administrative officials responded by

summarily punishing victim communities, including those who protested

such abuses” and the constitutional authorities designed to protect the

rights of children, women, religious minorities, tribal groups, and Dalits, “did

not function independently.”

Abuses Involving the Ability of Individuals to Engage in Religious

Activities Alone or in Community with Others

The Ministry of Home Affairs continued to enforce registration requirements

under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), which applied to

NGOs, including religious organizations, that received foreign contributions.

Media outlets reported that 1,111 NGOs were granted FCRA licenses in

2023. In March, the Minister of State for Home Affairs told Parliament that

the government cancelled registration certificates of 1,828 nonprofit

associations across the country under the provisions of the FCRA between

2018 and 2022. The ministry did not report how many religious

organizations were among those granted or denied licenses. In June, media

reported that the government cancelled the FCRA license of the Young

Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) of Delhi because of unspecified

“misuse of foreign grants” in its operation of women’s shelters. YWCA Delhi

leaders said they were considering an appeal. However, the government did

not sanction the national YWCA of India; its FCRA license was extended to

2028. In December, the government also revoked the FCRA license of the

Church of North India, a prominent evangelical organization, over

unspecified rules violations.

NGOs, including religious organizations, continued to criticize the

government’s use of FCRA for reducing the amount of foreign contributions

that NGOs could use for administrative purposes and adding what they

described as onerous oversight and certification requirements. In 2022,

Home Minister Shah stated that amendments to FCRA were necessary to

halt NGOs using foreign funds to engage in religious conversion and

engaging in “anti-national activities.” Some organizations working on

religious programs or advocacy, including Hindu organizations, reported

difficulties in obtaining registration approval for their activities. In response,

the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) started a helpdesk in July to help NGOs

submit their queries and issues regarding the FCRA.

During the year, there were reports of government action affecting the

activities of religious groups. On February 28, authorities in the Upper Siang

District of Arunachal Pradesh banned prayer healing, healing crusades, and

healing by local Hindu priests, according to UCA News. The local magistrate

said the practices were “misleading” people by influencing them away from

modern medical treatment. In a statement, district authorities also said

healing prayer meetings led to “social-cultural problems like conversion to

other faiths” which “spread discord among people and groups.” The

president of the Arunachal Christian Forum said the district’s order was

“against our fundamental right to practice our religion.”

The Madhya Pradesh government provided police protection to the 18

churches in the Jhabua District during Holy Week in April, at the request of

the local diocese. A spokesman for one of the churches said the diocese

sought to avoid "unnecessary charges of religious conversion" from local

Hindu groups during services on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

On July 27, the national government permitted more than 40,000 Shia

Muslims to participate in a peaceful procession marking the month of

Muharram in Jammu and Kashmir, the first time this procession was legally

permitted in more than 30 years. The government described the

resumption of the procession as a “peace dividend” and “testimony to

normalcy” in the area. Local Shia leaders told media the event was

“historic.”

In June, authorities in the Damoh District of Madhya Pradesh shut down the

Ganga Jamuna Higher Secondary School after Hindu nationalists stated that

non-Muslim students there were forced to wear headscarves and therefore

risked being converted to Islam. Their complaint was based on a poster that

depicted Muslim and non-Muslim female students celebrating examination

results at the school, all wearing headscarves. Parents denied the

allegations, but authorities arrested the school principal and two teachers,

and charged 13 school administrators with violation of the Madhya Pradesh

Religion Act. In August, the Madhya Pradesh High Court granted bail to the

three arrested and directed that school authorities not compel female

students to wear headscarves. The court also granted bail to the school

administrators.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah tweeted in December that his

government would rescind a policy instituted by the previous state

government that restricted religious garb in government educational

institutions, most prominently the hijab. This followed the Karnataka High

Court’s ruling in 2022 that the government could impose dress requirements

on students at a girls’ school in Udupi, including banning hijabs; the

Karnataka High Court ruled then that wearing a hijab was “not an essential

part of religious practice.” The Supreme Court later issued a split decision in

an appeal on the issue, with two justices agreeing that Karnataka could set a

dress code banning the hijab, and one justice ruling against on the grounds

that wearing a hijab was a matter of personal choice. A larger bench of the

Supreme Court was to hear the case but did not do so by the end of the

year.

On July 11, following claims by Hindu group Pandavwada Sangharsh Samiti

that the 19th century Jumma Masjid mosque resembled a Hindu temple, the

Jalgaon district authorities in Maharashtra barred Muslims from entering

the mosque to pray. On July 18, the Bombay High Court ordered the Jalgaon

District authority to hand over the mosque keys to the community trust and

allow Islamic prayers. The district authorities reopened the mosque

following the court order.

On August 24, the Karnataka High Court dismissed a petition by a group of

Hindu and Christian residents alleging that residential property in Bengaluru

was being used illegally as an Islamic prayer hall. Previously, that court had

approved the construction of a madrassah on the adjoining property, as long

as local building regulations were met. In rejecting the petition, the

Karnataka High Court said the petitioners provided no specific legal basis on

which to prohibit using residential property for prayer.

In August, the Allahabad High Court ruled that the national Archaeological

Survey of India (ASI) could conduct a survey of the 17th century Gyanvapi

Mosque in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, to determine if it was constructed over a

Hindu temple demolished by the order of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. The

Supreme Court temporarily halted the work to allow for an appeal through

the courts. Members of the Hindu community earlier sought permission

from the Allahabad High Court to conduct Hindu rituals inside of the

mosque, citing their fundamental right to pray in the petition, and noting

that they were able to pray in the site until a government ban was put in

place in 1992. In December, the ASI submitted its survey report as a sealed

document to a district judge in Varanasi.

The Allahabad High Court also ruled in December that a court-monitored

team of three surveyors could examine the still-operating 17th century

Shahi Eidgah Mosque in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, to determine if there were

any Hindu relics or symbols there as proof that the site was originally a

Hindu temple. In 2022, according to media reports, Hindu groups

unsuccessfully petitioned to keep Muslims from praying in the mosque, out

of concern that Hindu relics inside could be removed. On social media,

Muslim MP Asaduddin Owaisi, president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul

Muslimeen party, said the Shah Eidgah Mosque/Temple dispute had been

settled years before, but “the law doesn’t matter anymore. Robbing

Muslims of their dignity is the only goal now." He also said the Allahabad

High Court’s ruling violated the terms of the Places of Worship Act 1991,

which he stated prohibit such litigation.

In December 2022, the AIMPLB said it would petition the Supreme Court to

challenge the 2020 acquittal by a special Central Bureau of Investigation

(CBI) court of all 32 persons, including senior BJP politicians, charged in the

1992 demolition of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya. The Allahabad High Court

rejected a similar petition in November 2022. The board had not filed a

petition with the Supreme Court by year’s end.

In September, the Shri Ramjanmabhoomi Temple Construction Committee

announced that the consecration ceremony for the Ram Temple built on the

site of the Babri Mosque as per a Supreme Court ruling in 2019, would take

place in January 2024, led by Prime Minister Modi. The committee said the

ceremony was a major campaign promise of the BJP government. Civil

society groups and members of religious minority communities criticized the

construction of the Ram Temple as representative of India’s shift away from

its secular foundations and toward the establishment of a Hindu nation.

Police in Uttar Pradesh arrested four members of a Hindu nationalist group

in April and said the four slaughtered a cow near the city of Agra in order to

“frame” Muslims and “spur hostility” towards them. The assistant police

commissioner said the Hindus provided a list of Muslim suspects, filed an

official complaint, and demanded that police arrest them. After

investigating, police said that the Muslims named were innocent and the

Hindus actually killed the cow. One of the four arrested was Sanjay Jat, a

spokesman for the All India Hindu Mahasabha party; police said he was the

main conspirator in the incident.

Abuses Involving Discrimination or Unequal Treatment

On August 7, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that

the state government would introduce a law to end polygamy following the

conclusions of a state-appointed expert committee that polygamy was not

an essential religious practice in Islam and the state had the authority to

enact such legislation. On September 4, Sarma told media that the state

formed a committee to draft a law covering polygamy and “love jihad,”

which would be introduced in the state assembly in December. Opposition

parties criticized the decision as politically motivated. The All India United

Democratic Front, an Assam-based Muslim party, said the government was

introducing the law “to target the Muslim community.” Polygamy was

abolished among Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians, and Parsis by

legislation in the 19th and 20th centuries, but the 1937 Muslim Personal

Laws (Shariat) Act permits polygamy. According to National Family Health

Survey data from 2019-20, polygamy continued to be practiced by Muslims

(1.9 percent), Hindus (1.3 percent), and other religious groups (1.6 percent)

across the country.

On June 26, the Madras High Court ruled caste should not be the deciding

factor in the appointment of Archakas (priests) in Hindu temples. Justice N.

Anand Venkatesh noted that any person well-versed and qualified to

perform pooja (worship rituals) as per the requirements of the temple

Agama (rituals followed in the temple) could be appointed as an Archaka.

In March, the Supreme Court upheld an earlier Madhya Pradesh High Court

ruling that state governments had the power to regulate admissions and

fees charged by minority-run religious schools. The Supreme Court said

minority institutions of higher education “should not claim complete

immunity” from government regulation in their admissions and fee

structures. The Icon Education Society, a Catholic school in Madhya

Pradesh, had argued to the state high court that government oversight and

regulation of minority schools violated the rights of religious and ethnic

minorities in the country to establish and manage their own educational

institutions, without government interference. The society said such a right

was “guaranteed” in the constitution. Media reported that the decision

would have “far reaching implications” for Christian-run schools in that

state.

In April, the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister released a

working paper that said there was no evidence of religious discrimination in

the provision of public services including electricity, bank accounts, mobile

phones, and access to sanitary facilities after analyzing more than 1.2 million

households. The paper said, “…we do not find any evidence that the

government catered only to one community (Hindu majority) or

discriminated across households based on districts where one religious

community was dominant.”

In December, online media outlets said that Ashish Gupta, a government

revenue officer in Maudaha, Uttar Pradesh, was suspended from his position

when the government learned that he had converted to Islam. The state

government ordered an investigation into his conversion, according to the

Hindustan Times. Gupta’s wife said his father and a local Muslim cleric

arranged Gupta’s conversion so he could marry another woman. Police filed

a case based on her allegations and arrested three persons, including the

cleric, The Indian Express said.

On June 27, Prime Minister Modi said the country should have a Uniform

Civil Code (UCC) as called for in the constitution. He said the country could

not run with a system of “separate laws for separate (religious)

communities.” Several leaders of the Muslim, Sikh, Christian, and tribal

communities, including some state government officials and their

governments, opposed the initiative. Proponents of a UCC stated that it

could strengthen gender equity in civil matters such as divorce and

inheritance, while opponents said such a code was part of a larger project to

turn the country into a Hindu-majority “Hindustan” that would end

constitutional protections for members of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled

Tribes, and other legally defined “Backward Classes.” In July, the AIMPLB

wrote to the Law Commission of India expressing its opposition to the UCC

proposal, stressing that “majoritarian morality” must not supersede the

personal law, religious freedom and minority rights. The government took

no action on the UCC during the year.

Several political parties and religious and social organizations in majority

tribal areas of the northeastern states publicly opposed the application of a

UCC, some even before the Prime Minister’s announcement. On February

14, the Mizoram state legislative assembly unanimously adopted a

resolution in opposition, and Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga

threatened to leave the ruling National Democratic Alliance with the BJP if

the UCC were imposed on his state. The regional Mizo National Front party

and religious leaders in Mizoram, including from the Presbyterian Church of

India, wrote the Law Commission of India to express their opposition to a

UCC. Congress Party member Ronald Sapa Tlau, also from Mizoram, told the

media a UCC “would result in the oppression of minorities and minority

religious communities and even their assimilation by the majority

community” in the country. The Kerala Legislative Assembly passed a

resolution opposing a UCC, similar to Mizoram’s in August. In addition,

Meghalaya State Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said, “diversity was a

strength” in the country and a UCC would go “against the idea of India

itself.”

On July 8, several tribal organizations under the banner of the Adivasi

Samanwai Samiti (Tribal Coordination Committee) staged a demonstration

near the Jharkhand BJP headquarters to protest the proposed UCC. Tribal

leader Prem Sahi Munda said the UCC was a threat to tribal existence,

stating it would dilute the customary tribal laws and rights granted by the

constitution. On July 10, a 12-member delegation from Nagaland, led by

Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, met Home Minister Shah and expressed concern

about the UCC, which it said would violate a 1960 government agreement

with the Naga tribes that permitted customary tribal practices on social

issues such as marriage and divorce.

Some state governments supported the UCC initiative and worked toward

implementing UCC laws at the state level. On June 30, Uttarakhand Chief

Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami announced that his state would implement its

own UCC and that draft legislation was ready. Union Law Minister Arjun

Ram Meghwal told the media the Law Commission had received more than

10 million suggestions about the UCC from around the country by the end of

the public comment period on July 28. The next step would be meetings

with communities and stakeholders around the country, he said.

During the year, some politicians, government officials, and government

organizations made statements that members of religious minority groups

viewed as controversial or derogatory. For example, media reported that on

March 30, Telangana legislator T. Raja Singh, who was detained for more

than two months and suspended from the BJP in 2022 for hate speech, said

that only Hindus and Muslims who acknowledged Hindu gods should have

voting rights. Singh made the remarks while delivering a speech in front of a

mosque during a Hindu Ram Navami festival procession. At another public

meeting in Adilabad District of Telangana on June 4, he warned Hindu

women not to befriend burqa-clad Muslim women because they might

convert them and recruit them for ISIS, as described in the 2023 film The

Kerala Story, a film that was promoted by several BJP leaders, including

Prime Minister Modi. The West Bengal government initially banned

showings of The Kerala Story, deeming it to contain antiminority hate

speech. The Supreme Court ruled against the ban. However, according to

media reports, at the insistence of the Supreme Court, the producer of the

film agreed to include a disclaimer stating that “the film has no authentic

data to back the figure of 32,000 conversions of Hindu and Christians to

Islam” and that the film’s content was a fictional account.

At an RSS event in May, media outlets reported that then Minister for Law

and Justice Satya Pal Singh Baghel said, “Tolerant Muslims can be counted

on (one’s) fingers. Their numbers are not even in thousands.” He said “Even

that is a tactic. It is [a way for Muslims] to stay in public life with a mask.”

In a June press conference, Minister for Minority Affairs and Women and

Child Development Smitri Irani accused a U.S.-based religious freedom

activist of being connected to George Soros and the latter’s alleged “desire

to break the Indian democracy.” Following the press conference, the activist

recounted what she stated was the online abuse and harassment she

received from Hindu nationalist social media accounts, including one with

alleged links to an Indian intelligence official set up for the purpose of

“discrediting foreign critics of the Modi government,” according to a

Washington Post report.

According to media reports, on July 21, the Ministry of Minority Affairs

wrote Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary K.S. Jawahar Reddy asking him to

investigate a complaint made to the ministry by the Ahmadiyya Muslim

community against a resolution passed by the Andhra Pradesh Wakf Board,

the designated authority that deals with Muslim properties and

endowments. The resolution declared the Ahmadis as “kafirs”

(nonbelievers) and “non-Muslims.” The ministry said the wakf board

resolution amounted to a “hate campaign” against the Ahmadiyya Muslim

community that could have wider ramifications across the country. The

ministry also said the wakf board did not have the jurisdiction or authority

to determine the religious identity of any religious community or to “expel a

person or community from a religion.” The ministry said that the wakf

board had issued the resolution in violation of an earlier Supreme Court

ruling not to do so. According to a July 26 media report, the chief executive

officer of the wakf board said that the board had not passed any new

resolution against the Ahmadi Muslims and the document in question was

written by the board chairman “in his personal capacity.”

On September 2, while addressing a writers’ and artists’ association meeting

in Chennai, Tamil Nadu State Minister for Sports Udhayanidhi Stalin said the

Hindu concept of Sanatana Dharma (meaning the eternal values of

Hinduism), should be “eradicated” like diseases such as “dengue, mosquitos,

malaria, or coronavirus.” The remarks were followed by reactions from

Hindu groups, religious figures, government officials, politicians, and political

parties who told media that Stalin’s comments were “hate speech against

Hinduism and a call for genocide of Hindus.” Prime Minister Modi said

Stalin’s remarks represented an assault on Hindu values and faith. In

response, Stalin said he was only calling for an end to the caste system

associated with Sanatana Dharma, which he said, “divides people in the

name of caste and religion.” He stated the BJP was “twisting his words” and

spreading “fake news.” The Supreme Court noted that no individual had the

right to promote divisive ideas or abolition of an ideology. On September 22

and 27, the Supreme Court accepted petitions asking for action against

Stalin, including that Tamil Nadu police file a formal complaint against him.

In November, the Madras High Court reprimanded police in Tamil Nadu for

not taking any action against Stalin for his remarks, calling it a “dereliction of

duty.” That high court noted that no individual had the right to promote

divisive ideas or abolition of an ideology.

In Parliament on September 21, BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri used what Muslims

said were religious slurs and expletives against Muslim MP Danish Ali from

the Bahujan Samaj Party; Bidhuri’s comments were recorded on official

parliamentary video. The Speaker warned Bidhuri about his remarks and

ordered them expunged from the record. The president of Jamaat Ulama-e-

Hind, one of the largest Muslim organizations in the country, told media that

Bidhuri’s abusive "hate speech” demonstrated that “not only the common

Muslim but even Muslim MPs were not safe in the new India.” He said the

remarks were “a manifestation of extreme hatred for Muslims.” In a

statement, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind said Bidhuri should be disqualified as an

MP and expelled from the BJP.

The Washington Post reported that in Karnataka, the BJP party workers used

a digital campaign to “spread inflammatory material on an industrial scale,”

falsely accusing the Muslim community of abuses against the Hindu

community, including killings. The Post reported “a shadowy parallel

campaign creating incendiary posts that painted a dire and false message

that Muslims, aided by the secular and liberal Congress Party, had abused

and murdered members of the Hindu majority.” According to the Post,

“…BJP staffers and the party’s allies revealed how they conceive and craft

posts aimed at exploiting the fears of India’s Hindu majority, and detailed

how they had assembled a sprawling apparatus of 150,000 social media

workers to propagate this content across a vast network of WhatsApp

groups.” In an editorial summarizing a major reporting series, the

Washington Post said that “social media platforms have become conveyor

belts for hate under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Hindu nationalist

Bharatiya Janata Party and its affiliated groups.” The reports say that social

media platforms “…were late and lame in stamping out vile content aimed

at India’s Muslim minority.”

The government took action in some instances against public statements

that religious groups said they considered derogatory. In March, the News

Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) warned media outlets

Zee News and Times Now, and fined News18 India, citing seven examples of

“anti-Muslim content” aired or posted by them. The NBDSA said that a

broadcast by Zee News “selectively targeted” the Muslim community by

reporting projections of Muslim population growth out of context. The

agency said Times Now “wrongfully reported” that pro-Pakistan slogans

were raised during a protest in Pune by the banned Popular Front of India.

In the case of News 18 India, the NBDSA said it found comments by a news

anchor “objectionable” and including (anti-Muslim) “religious undertones.”

The NBDSA stated, “The entire premise of the [News 18] show revolved

around creating a negative image of the Muslim community to instigate the

members of the Hindu community to develop hatred for Muslims.” The

NBDSA fined News18 India 50,000 rupees ($600).

During a hearing in March related to public hate speech by political figures

cited in a petition by journalist-petitioner Shaheen Abdullah, Supreme Court

justices called for separating religion from politics and for more action by

state governments to regulate public comments by political leaders. Justice

K.M. Joseph said, “A major problem arises when politicians mix politics with

religion ... We [the court] have said in our recent verdict that mixing politics

with religion is dangerous for democracy.” In a subsequent ruling on the

case the following month, the Supreme Court ordered all states to register

cases against anyone using hate speech in public. Justices Joseph and B.V.

Nagarathna said hate speech was a “serious offense capable of affecting the

secular fabric of the country.” Media outlets reported that Christian,

Muslim, and Hindu leaders welcomed the ruling but said that state

governments had not acted on similar rulings by the Supreme Court in the

past. In the ruling, the Supreme Court said hesitation by state governments

to act against hate speech would invite contempt of court charges against

those governments. The Supreme Court also said it would continue to

accept petitions against incidents of hate speech in order to promote the

“larger public good.”

Police continued to investigate the deaths of two demonstrators who were

killed in protests against televised remarks by BJP spokespersons Nupur

Sharma and Naveen Jindal in 2022. Muslims, including from Muslim-

majority countries and international organizations, all stated they believed

the remarks were derogatory to the Prophet Muhammad. Sharma was

charged in 2022 with hurting religious sentiment and suspended from her

position by the BJP but remained free in 2023 pending trial.

During the year, some government officials made comments and took

actions in support of religious tolerance. For example, on the evening of

Easter Sunday, Prime Minister Modi visited the Catholic Sacred Heart

Cathedral in New Delhi, his first time there as Prime Minister. Media

reported that Christian leaders welcomed the visit and said it was an

“opportunity for dialogue with the government” aimed to put an end to the

“harassment” of Christians in the country.

During his state visit to the United States in June, Prime Minister Modi said

“We have proved democracy can deliver [in India]. When I say deliver,

regardless of caste, creed, religion, gender – there is absolutely no space for

any discrimination [in my government].”

In an interview with the Financial Times in December, Prime Minister Modi

said, “Indian society itself has no feeling of discrimination towards any

religious minority.” As an example, he said the religious minority Parsi

community was economically “thriving” in the country despite facing

persecution in other countries. The Prime Minister also hosted a Christmas

celebration at his residence with several prominent Christian leaders. Media

reported that the Prime Minister praised the contributions of Christians to

Indian society and said that Hinduism and Christianity shared values.

International NGOs and civil society organizations urged additional action by

the government. HRW stated the “actions and statements by members and

supporters of his [Modi’s] BJP party contradicted” Modi’s statements. HRW

said “India’s actions and statements on the world stage will never be

convincing if the Indian government doesn’t demonstrate a willingness to

allow scrutiny of its own record.” HRW further said “[Modi’s] government

should ensure that authorities, including in state governments where his

party is in power, investigate and prosecute those responsible for inciting or

carrying out violence against minorities.” In addition, over 3,200 individuals

from the Christian community released a statement dissociating themselves

from Prime Minister Modi’s December meeting with Christians, citing

growing anti-minority attacks, including in Manipur, and antiminority hate

speech by certain government officials.

Other Developments Affecting Religious Freedom

Authorities acted against vandalism of religious sites during the year. In

Chaukipura, Madhya Pradesh, for example, police arrested three Hindu men

accused of burning a Christian church. The pastor said he found the interior

of the church building completely charred, all the furniture burned, and

Hindu graffiti on the walls when he opened the building before Sunday

services on February 12. Police said those responsible – identified as

Avneesh Pandey and two others – were targeting churches and Islamic

shrines in the area. Police said the three were “fringe elements” who did

not belong to a political party. Media reported the accused were charged

under the penal code with “injuring and defiling a place of worship with the

intent of insulting religion.”

In February, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition from BJP member

Ashwini Upadhyay to appoint a commission to prepare a list of “ancient

historical-cultural religious places” named by Muslim leaders during their

rule to be renamed using Hindu names. In his petition, Upadhyay said that

many of the historical locations found in ancient Hindu religious texts had

been renamed for what he said were "foreign looters.” According to

international media reports, his petition also stated, “Successive

governments have not taken steps to correct the barbaric act of invaders

and the injury is continuing.” The two-judge panel said the petition went

against the principle of secularism enshrined in the constitution.

Section III. Status of Societal Respect for Religious

Freedom

Abuses Involving Violence, Detention, or Mass Resettlement

There were reports throughout the year of attacks against members of

religious communities committed by individuals or groups, including killings,

assaults, and intimidation. There were also reports of attacks against non-

Hindus and Dalits allegedly engaged in cattle slaughter or transporting cattle

for slaughter, known as “cow vigilantism.” There were reports of

harassment and arrest of Muslim men accused of “love jihad.” There were

also multiple cases of communal violence between religious groups.

On February 16, Haryana police found the bodies of two men in a burned-

out car in Bhiwani District, whom they subsequently identified as two

Muslims, Mohammad Junaid and Mohammad Nasir. According to media

reports and the men’s relatives, Junaid and Nasir were accused of cow

smuggling while visiting a relative in Haryana and their car was stopped by

members of a so-called cow vigilante group. Members of the group

allegedly beat the two men and attempted to take them to two different

police stations to be charged but were turned away at both. According to

the police report, which was quoted by media, members of the vigilante

group then drove the men nearly 100 miles away and set fire to their car

while the two were inside. As of August, 10 persons had been arrested for

involvement in the killing. Police listed Haryana District coordinator and

Hindu Bajrang Dal activist Monu Manesar as one of the 21 accused.

Rajasthan police also launched an investigation into the killing of Junaid and

Nasir since the two men were from that state. On September 13, Haryana

police arrested Manesar and transferred custody of him to Rajasthan police.

On May 13, a Hindu crowd in Akola, Maharashtra, allegedly killed Dalit Vilas

Gaikwad and injured eight others, including two policemen, during Hindu-

Muslim clashes. Media reported that the crowd mistook the victim as

Muslim. The violence began after Muslims alleged a local Hindu nationalist

leader insulted them and the Prophet Muhammad on social media. Police

arrested 147 individuals and briefly shut down local internet services in

response.

In the Nashik District of Maharashtra, a group described by media as cow

vigilantes killed Lukman Ansari and attacked two other Muslim youths for

allegedly transporting cattle for slaughter on June 8. Police arrested six of

the 10 Muslims accused in the incident. In a second incident in the same

area, media reports said cow vigilantes lynched Muslim Afan Ansari and

injured another Muslim youth on suspicion of carrying beef in their car.

Maharashtra police arrested 11 persons accused in that case and charged

Ansari and the other Muslim with illegally transporting beef for slaughter.

Since Ansari was killed, standard practice would be to drop his name from

the transporting beef case once it reached the prosecution stage.

On June 28, Muslim truck driver Muhammad Zahiruddin was lynched in

Bihar’s Saran District by a crowd that suspected he was carrying beef.

According to a media report, Zahiruddin was transporting cattle bones to a

factory at Marhaura that used them to make gelatine for medicine capsules.

On July 3, local media reported a crowd beat a Muslim and paraded him

half-naked in the Siddipet District of Telangana for allegedly urinating at the

statue of Shivaji, a 17th century Hindu king of western India. The man was

described as inebriated at the time. After parading him around, local Hindu

organizations called for the closure of all commercial establishments to

protest the man’s action. During the resulting local protests, a crowd also

attacked a mosque, according to media reports. Police filed nine cases and

arrested 11 individuals.

On July 29, the Supreme Court asked the MHA and police chiefs of six states

what action they had taken in six separate incidents of mob lynching of

Muslims in 2023. The Supreme Court also ordered that FIRs be opened

automatically in such cases for promoting enmity between groups in

situations of communal violence. The Supreme Court was responding to a

petition filed by National Federation of Indian Women that questioned

police inaction in cases of mob violence against Muslims and demanded

compensation for the victims. In its ruling, the Supreme Court also

referenced its 2018 judgment asking the MHA and all Indian states to take

action in cases of mob vigilantism.

There were incidents of violence reported between members of different

religious groups. The National Crimes Record Bureau reported 272

instances of communal violence in 2022 (most recent data) compared with

378 in 2021.

During the year, public celebrations of Hindu festivals sometimes resulted in

communal violence, particularly when these celebrations included

processions through Muslim-majority areas. For example, between March

30 and April 1, there were sporadic incidents of Hindu-Muslim violence in

West Bengal, Bihar, and Jharkhand States during Hindu Ram Navami

festivals. Media outlets reported that as processions of the BJP and

affiliated Hindu nationalist groups, including RSS and the VHP, passed

through Muslim-majority neighborhoods, some residents threw stones and

yelled at them. The confrontations escalated to violence, arson, and

property damage, according to media. In West Bengal, where the RSS and

its affiliates organized 2,000 processions for Ram Navami, one person was

reported killed in Dalkhola. Widely circulated videos on social media

depicted participants in the Ram Navami processions carrying swords and

guns. In Bihar, one person was reported killed and the 110-year-old Azizia

Madrassah, the madrassah library, a mosque, and several houses and shops

were reported damaged or destroyed. Police arrested several hundred

persons in connection with communal violence across those states,

according to media reports.

In a statement released on April 4, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation

(OIC) said it had “deep concern” about the violence and vandalism targeting

the Muslim community in several states during the Ram Navami

processions, which it said reflected “systemic targeting of the Muslim

community in India.” The OIC said authorities should take “firm actions

against the instigators and perpetrators of such acts” and “ensure the

safety, security, rights, and dignity of the Muslim community in the

country.”

On July 31 in Nuh, Haryana, communal violence broke out as a Hindu

procession led by the VHP made its way through the Muslim-majority

district. Six persons, including two constables of the Haryana Home Guard,

were killed in the violence and more than 70 others injured. Violence

spread the following day to the nearby city of Gurugram where a Hindu mob

killed a Muslim cleric and burned down a mosque. Media reported that 188

persons were arrested in connection with the violence. On August 28, the

Haryana government denied permission for the VHP to lead another

procession through Nuh and deployed security forces to maintain public

order. On September 12, Haryana police detained Bajrang Dal leader Monu

Manesar, known for posting videos online of engaging in cow vigilante

violence against Muslims, for releasing a provocative video just before the

Nuh violence, appealing to his followers to join the procession. Haryana

police also arrested Congress Party legislator Mamman Khan on allegations

that he helped instigate the violence in Nuh.

On August 3-5, the Haryana government demolished 1,208 structures across

several towns and villages in the area where the communal violence had

taken place. An officer on the Haryana Chief Minister’s staff said the

structures razed belonged to those arrested in the violence, were houses

from which rioters threw firebombs and rocks at other protestors and the

police, or were illegal encroachments on government-owned land. Media

reports said almost all the properties demolished belonged to Muslims,

including in the Rohingya refugee camp in Tauru, and the overall demolition

campaign was one of the largest-ever in the region. Local political activists

said that demolitions deliberately targeted Muslims and left more than 500

homeless. Media reported that some of those with demolished homes said

they had legal documents for their properties and had nothing to do with

the violence; they also said they were given little or no advance notice of the

demolitions. On August 7, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered a

stay on further demolitions, asking in its order “whether the buildings

belonging to a particular community are being brought down under the

guise of law and order problem and an exercise of ethnic cleansing is being

conducted by the State.” The government respected his order and halted

demolitions. The Supreme Court further described calls for an economic

boycott against the Muslim community as “unacceptable” and urged local

authorities to take action against those promoting hate speech.

In March, the NGO Citizens and Lawyers Initiative released its Routes of

Wrath report covering Hindu-Muslim communal violence during the Hindu

Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti festivals in April 2022. The report stated

that “despite the well-known lessons from earlier riots,” religious

processions “were permitted to pass through the most congested and

sensitive areas,” leading to communal violence in nine states “followed by

targeted attacks on Muslim-owned properties, businesses and places of

worship.” The report said that Hindu nationalist organizations had taken

over the processions during those festivals over the years. It also stated that

Muslim families were displaced in areas where rioting and violence

occurred, either by demolition of their property or because they feared for

their safety. The report said, “no cause of interfaith riots has been as

recurrent and widespread as the religious procession.” In the report’s

prologue, former Supreme Court Justice Rohinton F. Nariman said one

solution to the violence would be to “sensitize” police that “Muslims

situated in India are citizens of India.”

A study of media reports on communal riots and incidences of mob lynching

conducted by the NGO Center for the Study of Society and Secularism cited

32 instances of communal riots reported by five major national newspapers

in 2023, down from 41 in 2022. The study reported 21 cases of mob

lynching in 2023, up from 15 in 2022. The 32 instances of communal riots

resulted in the killing of 15 persons, including five Muslims, four Hindus, and

three police personnel. In the 21 instances of mob lynching, 16 Muslims

were killed, according to the study. The study said 11 communal riots took

place in Maharashtra and five in Gujarat. The study also said 22 of the 32

communal riots took place in states where the BJP led the government. The

study stated, “Communal violence in India in 2023 saw religious festivals

being weaponized to provoke communal riots and subsequently enabling

the state to use it as a pretext to demolish properties belonging mostly to

the members of Muslim community. Out of 32 communal riots, 9

communal riots were triggered off during the Ram Navami processions that

were organized by Hindu nationalists.”

In the state of Manipur, violence broke out between the majority Meitei

ethnic group and the minority Kuki ethnic group in May. Meitei are

predominately Hindu while Kuki are predominately Christian. Media reports

said the violence began in Imphal after large crowds of Kukis protested a

decision by the Manipur High Court directing the Manipur state government

to consider the Meitei community’s request to grant it special status as a

Scheduled Tribe and send a recommendation to the national government to

do the same. According to Indian and international outlets, Kukis – the

minority group in the area and already included as a Scheduled Tribe under

the constitution – feared this change in status could open their legally

protected traditional lands to exploitation by the majority Meitei, and

eventually lead to their displacement. Many media outlets described the

ethnic violence as driven by political and economic concerns. Religion and

ethnicity are closely linked, however, and some places of worship were

reportedly targeted for their religious affiliation.

In June, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum said that at least 253 churches

were burned down during the violence in Manipur. According to

international and domestic media reports, the violence resulted in the killing

of more than 200 persons and the displacement of over 60,000. Although

the violence resulted in the destruction of religious places belonging to both

communities, media reports stated that more churches than Hindu temples

were destroyed. In addition, a group of Meitei reportedly attacked the small

Bnei Menashe Jewish community, who are ethnically Kuki, killing one

community member, destroying two of their synagogues, and displacing

more than 1,000 members of the community. Most of the attacks against

religious sites were reported to have taken place in the first few days of the

conflict, when the interethnic violence was at its peak. Some members of

the Kuki community reported that police abetted the Meitei groups who

engaged in violence. There were also reports of Meitei Hindus pressuring

Meitei Christians to convert and attacking churches belonging to Meitei

Christians. One local Meiti Christian leader was reported to have said that

the Meiti Christians had been “attacked from both sides.” Levels of violence

decreased after a delayed surge of security forces in Manipur in the months

after the conflict. The Irish NGO Church in Chains reported that violence

continued after the initial rioting, including on June 9 when two Meiteis

killed Domkhohoi Haokip, a Christian Kuki, as she was praying in a church in

Khoken.

The Supreme Court criticized the failure of the central government and the

Manipur state government to halt the violence, especially in the early stages

of the conflict. In August, the Supreme Court ordered a judicial panel to

oversee humanitarian relief and compensation for those impacted by the

violence in Manipur. In December, the Supreme Court ordered the Manipur

state government to take steps to protect places of worship and restore

places of worship for “all religious faiths and denominations” destroyed

during the violence.

In December, the UCF reported 731 attacks against Christians across the

country during the year, compared with 599 such incidents in 2022. The

UCF stated the attacks included “incidents (of) mob violence led by so-called

vigilante groups of (a) particular faith who are allegedly receiving support

from people in power.” UCF state-by-state data showed that most incidents

were in Uttar Pradesh (301) and Chhattisgarh (152). Other states which

reported higher instances of attacks against Christians included Haryana

(52), Jharkhand (49), Madhya Pradesh (38), Karnataka (27), and Punjab (21).

In April, during a hearing on the 2022 petition by Archbishop Peter

Machado and two Christian NGOs for greater protection of Christians and

more diligent government investigation of violence against Christians, the

government told the Supreme Court that the UCF “exaggerated” claims of

attacks against Christians, to create a “false narrative.” In July, the UCF’s

national coordinator stated that “government data (on violence against

Christians) downplays the severity of the situation.”

In January, the U.S.-based Federation of Indian American Christian

Organizations of North America (FIACONA) released its 2023 annual report,

which documented 1,198 reported incidents of violence against Christians in

2022 throughout the country, compared with 761 in 2021. Incidents

included neighborhood skirmishes, targeted killings, and armed assaults.

The report stated that the violence against Christians was “planned and

orchestrated” by “Hindu nationalist political parties as part of a larger design

to create a Hindus-only state.” FIACONA said the estimated cost to property

and businesses from these attacks was approximately $100 million.

In its World Watch List report covering 2023, the Christian NGO Open Doors

stated that Christians in the country were “increasingly under threat…by an

ongoing belief among some Hindu extremists that Indians ought to be Hindu

– and any faith outside of Hinduism is not welcome in India.” The NGO said,

“This mindset has led to violent attacks across the country and impunity for

the people who perpetrate this violence, especially in places where the

authorities are also Hindu hardliners.” The NGO also said, with more states

implementing anticonversion laws, there is “an environment where any

Christian who shares their faith can be accused of a crime, intimidated,

harassed and even met with violence.” Open Doors stated that 160

Christians were killed for “faith-related reasons” in the country from

October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023 and 2228 Christian properties

including churches attacked. Open Doors also said 2085 Christians were

detained during this period for “faith-related reasons.” Other sources could

not verify these statistics, however.

In January, 300 Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish and Baha’i leaders gathered

with Christians at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in New Delhi to show solidarity

with Christians who were forced to leave their homes by violence in

Chhattisgarh in December 2022. Vatican News reported that the

participants lit candles, prayed together, and asked the government to stop

violence against Christians, which it said were targeted because they refused

to renounce their faith.

There were numerous reports during the year of Hindu groups and

organizations taking action against Christians they said were trying to

convert others to Christianity and against others they said made derogatory

remarks against Hinduism or Hindu deities. In some incidents, Hindus

attacked Christians and disrupted Christian worship services.

On January 1, for example, a Hindu crowd assembled in Gorra, Chhattisgarh,

and summoned the town’s Christians to join them. When a few Christians

arrived, Christianity Today stated they were beaten with sticks, bricks, and

stones by the crowd, with some victims requiring hospitalization. One

resident said the crowd accused Christians of “following a foreign religion”

and gave them the choice of recanting their faith or leaving the area

permanently. Christianity Today reported that the incident was part of

“weeks of coordinated attacks against Christians” in Chhattisgarh that began

in late 2022 and left approximately 1,500 persons homeless. The chairman

of the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum (CCF) said in a press conference on

January 4 that the CCF had reported the attacks to police but that “no action

was taken by them, resulting in the series of attacks against the Christian

community. The CCF chairman said, “The police have not only neglected our

complaints, but they have also encouraged the attackers and we have

evidence of this.”

On February 27, members of the Hindu nationalist organization Bajarang Dal

assaulted atheist activist Bairi Naresh in Warangal District, Telangana, for

remarks he made during a conference in December 2022 that were deemed

derogatory to Hindu deities. Police arrested Naresh on December 31, 2022

and charged him with inciting a riot and insulting religion, and he was

released on bail in early 2023. Media outlets reported that police

responded to a call from Naresh and attempted to protect him from the

crowd. In August, the Telangana Bharatiya Nastika Samajam (Atheist Society

of India) expelled him because of his comments in 2022.

Media reported that on April 30 a group of approximately 100 Bajrang Dal

members attacked a Christian congregation holding Sunday prayers at a

private residence in Chhattisgarh's Durg district; the attackers said the

congregation was engaged in forced religious conversion. The host of the

prayer meeting said that police stood by and watched without intervening.

The Chhattisgarh Christian Forum said that the police detained the host and

other Christian community members on charges of “disturbing the peace,”

but none of the assailants were arrested.

On July 4, members of the Bajrang Dal, the VHP, and regional political party

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena entered the D.Y. Patil High School in

Maharashtra's Pune District and assaulted principal Alexander Cotes,

alleging that students there were forced to recite Christian prayers and not

allowed time off for Hindu festival holidays. Some of the students’ parents

also took part in the assault, according to media reports. One parent said

that the students were “intimidated” by school authorities. No charges

were filed after the incident, according to media reports.

On August 4, a group including VHP members assaulted student Ilyas Sarkar

Suman in the Koroimura Higher Secondary School in Tripura after he

objected to hijab-clad Muslim girls being prevented from attending classes

and reportedly ransacked the principal’s office in protest with other

students. Media aired video showing Suman being dragged out of his

classroom by the group and beaten; no school staff intervened to help him.

On August 6, Bajrang Dal members disrupted a church service in Bihar’s

Nawda District, attacking Protestant Pastor Shyju Joseph and accusing him

of converting people to Christianity, UCA News reported. One witness said

Joseph was beaten badly enough to be taken to a hospital for his injuries.

As of December, fundamentalist Islamic terrorist groups Lashkar-e-Taiyyba

and its proxy group the Resistance Front had killed 12 civilians and migrant

laborers as well as 33 members of the security forces in 72 incidents in

Jammu and Kashmir, according to the South Asian Terrorism Portal. This

compared with 30 civilians and 30 members of the security forces killed in

151 incidents in 2022. On January 1 and 2, terrorists killed seven Hindu

civilians in the Rajouri District of Jammu and Kashmir in two separate

incidents. In October, terrorists killed Hindu migrant worker Mukesh Kumar

from Uttar Pradesh in Pulwama District.

Abuses Limiting Religious Belief and Expression

Incidents of abuses reported against Christians included socially ostracizing

and economically boycotting them and prohibiting some from using

communal burial grounds because of their religious beliefs, according to the

UCF. In September, Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy director of Human Rights

Watch’s Asia Division, said in an interview, “While Hindus have the right to

practice their faith, that should not include undermining and attacking

fellow Indians who might follow another religion or belief. Instead, some

Hindu groups that believe they enjoy the protection and patronage of the

ruling BJP, have targeted Muslims and Christians, their places of worship,

and even their livelihood.”

In a report to a committee of the Irish Parliament on July 4, representatives

of the NGO Church in Chains stated, “India’s constitution guarantees

religious freedom and Christians enjoy freedom in much of the country, but

in rural areas they face increasing persecution from Hindu extremists

motivated by Hindu nationalist ideology.” The NGO representatives said,

“The extremists attack small churches, beat pastors and members, set fire to

homes and church buildings, and accuse Christians of being involved in

forced conversions of Hindus.”

There were also reports of Hindus disrupting Muslim events, stating that

they included illegal conversions. In June, for example, college authorities in

Malegon, Maharashtra, suspended principal Subhash Nikam following

objections by a Hindu nationalist group that Nikam opened a career

guidance seminar with an Islamic prayer. Media reported that the Hindu

group whose members had disrupted the seminar said that Nikam was

illegally converting students to Islam. Nikam said that the local organization

sponsoring the seminar, which was not affiliated with the school, usually

opened its events with brief Islamic prayers. Police filed a complaint against

Nikam.

During the year, there were reports alleging that Muslim men had deceived

Hindu women into marrying them and then pressured the women to

convert, a practice called “love jihad.” In Maharashtra, Samajwadi Party

legislator Rais Shaikh said in December that the Interfaith Marriage Family

Coordination Committee established by that state government in December

2022 received 402 complaints of “love jihad” since its creation. In March,

State Minister for Women and Child Welfare, Mangalprabhat Lodha, said

there were more than 100,000 cases of “love jihad” in Maharashtra when it

set up the committee.

In June, BJP president in Bihar State Samrat Choudhary said the BJP would

investigate all alleged cases of “love jihad” if voted to power in Bihar in the

next (2025) state election.

Abuses Involving the Ability of Individuals to Engage in Religious

Activities Alone or in Community with Others

In June, media reported that two men in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, posted

images of 18th century Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan and an audio message

deemed offensive to Hindus on their social media accounts. In addition, a

man posted an image of 17th and 18th century Mughal emperor Aurangzeb

on his WhatsApp account. Both historical leaders are considered by

historians to have oppressed Hindus during their reigns. The social media

posts led to large protests by Hindus in Kolhapur on June 7 that were

dispersed by police. Police said all three men who posted the images were

charged with “promoting enmity” and “intention to hurt the religious

sentiments of others” under the penal code. Maharashtra Deputy Chief

Minister Devendra Fadnavis told media that the social media posts “could

not be mere coincidence” and were “desperate attempts” to destabilize law

and order in the state.

On August 20, in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvannamalai District, a Muslim woman was

denied permission to take a Hindi language examination conducted by the

Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha after she refused to remove her hijab.

Following the incident, Muslim organizations staged a protest in front of the

examination center.

There were instances of Hindus preventing Christians from proselytizing

during the year. On March 1, at the World Book Fair in New Delhi, a group

of 30 men entered the stall of the Gideons International organization,

pulling books off shelves and repeating Hindu religious chants. Police

eventually removed the protestors, and video of the incident circulated

widely on social media. One eyewitness told journalists that the group did

not attack other locations displaying Islamic texts. He added that Gideons

International erected its display following the normal rules of the book fair

and had been displaying books at the fair for the past 10 years.

There were instances of religious group members making derogatory

comments in public about other religious groups during the year. For

example, on January 15, news portal Nijam Today reported that Hyderabad

police arrested Pastor Kuntum Edward William from Andhra Pradesh for his

remarks during a church service on January 1 in which he said that the BJP-

led central government would carry out a Christian “genocide” in 2023,

based on an “American top secret agency report available to him.” Nijam

Today also reported that William said it was “the duty” of PM Modi and

Home Minister Shah “to hate Christians.” The portal shared a social media

post by a Hindu nationalist organization with a video of William’s remarks.

The pastor, who is also the host of a Christian television program, was

charged with making religious hate speech and public provocation. He was

later released on bail, the portal reported.

In March, a widely circulated video on social media showed speakers at a

VHP event in Kodi, Gujarat, defaming the Pope and calling for those present

at the event to “remove Christians” from the area. Christian nuns and

Gujarat Roman Catholic authorities on March 21 petitioned the Gujarat

Chief Minister for protection and demanded that the speakers be charged

under the relevant portions of the penal code. In April, a nun from

Vadodara filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court seeking action regarding

derogatory remarks against the Pope. The petitioner said police took no

action against the VHP speakers, despite the request from Catholic

authorities that they do so. The Gujarat High Court had not ruled on the

petition as of year’s end.

Media outlets reported that Sakal Hindu Samaj (All Hindu Society), a

coalition of Hindu nationalist groups, held 50 public rallies in Maharashtra

between November 2022 to March 2023 in which they said Muslims were

forcibly converting Hindu women through marriage and called for Hindus to

arm themselves and economically boycott Muslims. In February, the

Supreme Court ordered Maharashtra police to do more to curb hate speech

in the state. In May, Maharashtra police informed the Supreme Court that

30 hate speech-related complaints were registered from February to May.

The Indian Express online news service said Muslims viewed the rallies as

discriminatory because they featured speakers criticizing “love jihad” and

“Islamic aggression” in addition to calling for a boycott. A Washington Post

reporter who attended one of the rallies in February said she saw persons of

all ages expressing Hindu akrosh (angst) and calling for “termites” and

“bearded traitors” – derogatory terms for Muslims – to leave the country.

Citing the NGO Hindutva Watch, the Los Angeles Times in October reported

that in the first six months of the year, “nearly 80 percent of hate speech

events were held in states or territories controlled by the BJP party.”

Abuses Involving Discrimination or Unequal Treatment

There were incidents during the year that members of some minority

religious groups viewed as discriminatory or threatening. There were also

protests by members of some minority religious groups against treatment or

comments they viewed as discriminatory. On February 20, the Gujarat

Education Board of Catholic Institutions sought police protection for

buildings in the state, and especially for St. Mary's High Secondary School in

Amreli District, after members of the VHP and Bajrang Dal entered the

school and demanded that photos of Hindu deities be installed inside

classrooms and at the principal’s office. In a letter to Chief Minister

Bhupendra Patel, Father Teles Fernandes, secretary of the board, said the

incident was “totally unacceptable in a democratic and secular country like

India. We as a minority group, feel threatened and intimidated by such

elements.”

Also in February, the RSS-affiliated Janajati Dharma Sanskriti Suraksha

Manch, a social organization in Assam, demanded removal of the Scheduled

Tribe status of anyone who embraced Christianity. A spokesman said to the

media, “Tribal people, who have been converted to ‘foreign religions’ such

as Christianity and Islam, are getting double benefits, both as members of

Scheduled Tribes and as a minority.” On March 26, the organization held a

rally in Guwahati to press their demand. In a statement, legislators from the

neighbouring state of Meghalaya “strongly condemned” the Hindu group’s

demand which they said went “against the spirit of respecting the

indigenous ethnic origin of the Scheduled Tribes of the North East, especially

the Christian community in Meghalaya and Nagaland.”

According to a media report, on March 15, a village council in Chhattisgarh's

Bastar Region passed a resolution prohibiting tribal members from working

on farmland owned by Christians or Hindus, banning Christian cremations

within the village, and outlawing the celebration of nontraditional tribal

festivals. The resolution said that the spread of Christianity, Hinduism, and

other nontribal religions in the area was putting local tribal culture “on the

verge of ending.” Bastar District authorities said the village council

resolution was illegal, promised action against anyone who discriminated

against anyone based on religion, and announced an investigation into the

resolution.

On March 25, members of the Scheduled Tribe communities demonstrated

in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, to call for a constitutional amendment which

would deny rights such as government employment and education quotas

to any member of the Scheduled Tribes who converted from their

traditional religions to other religions, such as Christianity or Islam.

Representatives of 62 tribal organizations took part and were joined by

Union Minister of State Bishweswar Tudu, who said the demand for such an

amendment was “growing louder across the country.” Tudu said the

Scheduled Tribes members had their own culture, which conversion to other

faiths would destroy. One tribal leader at the demonstration said many

tribal individuals who had converted to other religions (i.e., Christianity)

took advantage of the same benefits offered to Scheduled Tribes members

who did not convert. “This should be stopped,” he told the media.

Another leader said that tribal people were targeted for proselytization by

Christians.

In April, UCA News reported that Christians and Muslims in the Bastar area

of Chhattisgarh petitioned the local government to act against local leaders

of Hindu-led organizations, including the BJP, the VHP, and Bajrang Dal, that

had called for an embargo against Christian and Muslim businesses during a

rally on April 10 in Jagdalpur. A Christian leader said authorities had agreed

to investigate. Following the petitions, BJP officials stated that their party

“does not support social discrimination” and is committed “to work for the

development of society as a whole.”

In May, the Muslim Youth League in Kerala state offered a 10-million-rupee

($120,200) “cash reward” for anyone who could provide evidence

supporting what they said were false claims in The Kerala Story film that ISIS

recruited “thousands” of Christian and Hindu women from the state, many

through marriage and conversion. A Muslim Youth Group leader said that

the film reinforced “Islamophobic tropes” in order to “tarnish the reputation

of our state as well as the Muslim community.” Both the Kerala state

government and members of the opposition threatened legal action against

the filmmakers for “attempting to spread propaganda”; other groups

petitioned the Kerala High Court and the national Supreme Court to prevent

the film’s release.

On June 7, the Tamil Nadu government closed the Sri Dharmaraja Draupadi

Amman Hindu Temple near Melpathi in Villupuram District following a

dispute between Vanniyars, members of a higher caste group, and Dalits

concerning which group could use the facility. Media reports said that three

Dalits were assaulted in April while trying to enter the temple to pray. In

response, Dalit groups staged public protests and blocked roads. When the

state’s minister for higher education said that everyone had a right to

worship at the temple and district authorities would resolve the issue,

Vanniyars protested and blocked entry. Local authorities said the temple

would be reopened once an “amicable settlement” could be reached

between the Vanniyars and the Dalits. The temple was managed by the

state Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department.

In August, international media outlets reported about a video circulating on

social media showing a teacher in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, ordering

her students to take turns slapping a crying seven-year-old Muslim boy

standing in front of the class for “not remembering his times tables.” As the

students slapped the Muslim student, the teacher could be heard saying

derogatory remarks in reference to the boy’s religion. Police registered a

case against the teacher and launched an investigation, with the student

moving to another school.

In October, speakers at a conference in Jalgaon, Maharashtra, organized by

HJS said Hindus were “waking up and raising their voice(s) against the

injustice they face” because Hindus were being “targeted” with charges of

hate speech around the country. The HJS organizer for Maharashtra and

Chhattisgarh, Sunil Ghanwat, said that although “there has been no incident

where [the] speech of Hindutva activists caused law and order problems,”

Hindus were still charged for their comments under “pressure on the police

and administration.” To counter what he said were “anti-Hindu” forces,

Ghanwat said that the HJS should create organizations to lobby for Hindu

issues at every level of government.

Following the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel, the Guardian said there was

“a flood of disinformation” on social media stating that India faced a similar

threat from its Muslim population, particularly in Muslim-majority areas

such as Jammu and Kashmir. According to the Guardian, a typical, widely

circulated message said, “In the future, India could also face conspiracies

and attacks like Israel.” A BJP politician in Karnataka stated on social media,

“We may face the situation that Israel is confronting today if we don’t stand

up against Politically motivated Radicalism.” Vishnu Gupta, national

president of Hindu nationalist organization Hindu Sena, told the Guardian

that he and 200 others were volunteering for the Israeli army because both

countries “are victims of Islamic terror.” Gupta added, “Just as Jerusalem

was taken over by Muslims, holy places in India were also invaded by

Muslims.”

In its Freedom in the World report covering civil liberties including freedom

of religion in 2023, the NGO Freedom House rated the country as “partly

free” due to “discriminatory policies and a rise in persecution affecting the

Muslim population.”

Other Developments Affecting Religious Freedom

Several Hindu nationalist publications and social media users attempted to

blame interfaith tensions for a June 2 train accident that killed 275 persons

and injured over 1,000. The RSS-affiliated publication Organizer stated the

accident may have resulted from Muslim international terrorist groups such

as Al Qaeda and ISIS attacking transportation infrastructure. Other social

media posts also suggested that the accident was carried out by Muslims,

since it took place on a Friday (the Islamic Sabbath) and the local railroad

station manager was Muslim (an untrue claim, according to media). In a

June 4 statement, Odisha police warned the public not to circulate rumors

and said there would be “severe legal action” against anyone who did.

There were reports of cooperation between faith groups during the year. In

one example, in April, Hindu and Muslim leaders in Jabalpur, Madhya

Pradesh, joined with public health authorities to urge residents to have

children vaccinated to counter a measles outbreak. Hindu leaders used

temple gatherings and Muslim imams used Friday sermons in mosques to

spread the message, according to media reports.

Section IV. U.S. Government Policy and Engagement

In a joint statement issued during Prime Minister Modi’s state visit to

Washington in June, the U.S. and Indian governments reaffirmed “their

shared values of freedom, democracy, human rights, inclusion, pluralism,

and equal opportunities for all citizens.” The statement said that both

countries recognized “the diversity represented in their nations and

celebrating the contributions of all their citizens.”

In a joint statement issued during President Biden’s visit to New Delhi in

September, the U.S. and Indian governments said, “The leaders re-

emphasized that the shared values of freedom, democracy, human rights,

inclusion, pluralism, and equal opportunities for all citizens are critical to the

success our countries enjoy and that these values strengthen our

relationship.” The Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense’s joint

statement with Indian counterparts following a meeting in November

echoed similar views.

During his visit to New Delhi in April, the Secretary of State met with women

leaders and discussed, among other issues, recent developments in religious

freedom in the country. In July, the Under Secretary for Civilian Security,

Democracy, and Human Rights met with civil society groups to discuss the

treatment of members of marginalized religious and ethnic groups in the

country, among other issues, underscoring the U.S. commitment to its

partnership with India and advancing freedom of religion or belief and

freedom of expression.

Throughout the year, the Ambassador engaged with members of religious

communities, including representatives of the Buddhist, Christian, Hindu,

Muslim, and Sikh faiths, to discuss the importance of religious freedom and

pluralism; the value of interfaith dialogue, and the operating environment

for faith-based organizations. In May, the Ambassador visited historic

mosques in Hyderabad and Ahmedabad and engaged with religious

minorities and an interfaith youth group. Visiting Mumbai in May, the

Ambassador joined religious leaders on an interfaith walk that included visits

to Hindu and Parsi temples, a mosque, a synagogue, and a Jesuit university

museum. In March, the Chargé d’Affaires hosted an iftar for senior-level

Muslim representatives where they discussed religious freedom and

pluralism in the country.

Embassy and consulate officials and other visiting senior U.S. officials

including the Assistant Secretary of State and Deputy Assistant Secretary of

State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, met with leaders

from the government, religious minority communities, NGOs, civil society,

and academia to engage on religious freedom concerns and learn about the

perspectives and experiences of religious leaders.

In April, the Consul General in Mumbai hosted an iftar with prominent civil

society members to discuss religion in the workplace. In Ahmedabad, the

Consul-General joined the Ambassador to meet with an interfaith youth

group and tour prominent multifaith religious sites in the city to emphasize

the importance of religious freedom to all faiths.

Staff from the consulate general in Kolkata regularly engaged with religious

leaders across the east and northeast areas of the country to underscore the

U.S. government’s commitment to human rights and religious freedom.

During the year, the Consul General visited the Ahmadi and Dawoodi Bohra

communities, minority Muslim communities, to encourage interfaith

dialogue.

On April 11, the Consul General in Chennai hosted an iftar for interfaith

leaders. In June, she addressed an Indian Philosophy Conference event and

stressed U.S. interest in promoting religious freedom, human rights, and

tolerance.

On January 10, the Consul General in Hyderabad and the visiting Chargé

d’Affaires hosted Muslim youth leaders who were former participants in U.S.

government exchange programs to discuss religious freedom and problems

faced by the Muslim community.

Embassy and consulate public messaging, including from the Ambassador

and the Consuls General, regularly emphasized U.S.-government-supported

activities that involved individuals from different religious traditions and

marked important religious holidays from various religions in the country.