On May 15, the US State Department released a report saying religious freedom in India has worsened.
In a 49-page detailed booklet, the report titled ‘2022 Report on International Religious Freedom’ cited examples from a number of cases where minorities were targeted and attacked in the country.
The report mentioned Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal’s remarks on Prophet Mohammad that had led to massive protests across the country. It also pointed out BJP MLA T. Raja Singh’s remarks on the Prophet after which he was arrested by the Telangana police.
It discussed a number of instances where people from the Christian community were attacked by a mob over claims of religious conversion. It highlighted several instances when houses of Muslims were bulldozed in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone in April 2022, after the area witnessed communal violence on Ram Navami.
The report also noted how police arrested people from the Hindu community who attacked minorities. It included the case of Bulli Bai app on GitHub where pictures of Muslim women were put up on sale.
The Wire asked Aakar Patel, former head of Amnesty International in India, why Indian institutions are silent over religious freedom and communal violence in the country, to which Patel said, “There is a lot of pressure on the institutions that do such work in India. The National Human Rights Commission, a unit of the Government of India, also does not do much work on this.”
“The NHRC Chairperson Mr. Arun Kumar Mishra used to be a well-known judge, but he gave his decisions in favour of the government. That’s why we should not expect anything from these institutions. And this is not a matter of today, the situation was the same even 10-20 years ago,” he added.
