Religious freedom in India is on a “downward trajectory”, according to a US commission hearing that heard fresh warnings about discrimination, arbitrary detention and violence directed against Christians and other religious minorities.
At the May 7 hearing on Capitol Hill, members of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said India’s national and state-level policies were contributing to an increasingly hostile environment for minority communities. The discussion focused in particular on anti-conversion laws, attacks on places of worship, pressure on clergy and the failure of local authorities to prevent or punish anti-minority violence.
USCIRF vice-chair Asif Mahmood described religious freedom in India as “abysmal”, saying that minority communities and their religious sites remain vulnerable to harassment, surveillance and discriminatory legislation. He added that members of the clergy are routinely arrested on accusations of forced conversion and later released.
Commission chair Vicky Hartzler said the deterioration was visible across several levels of public life, from state legislation to local enforcement. She pointed to anti-conversion laws now in force in 13 of India’s 28 states, along with anti-terror provisions and citizenship rules that, she said, have been used in ways that disproportionately affect minorities.
The hearing took place against a backdrop of mounting concern over attacks on Christians in India. The commission has recently warned of escalating mob violence, property destruction and pressure on Christian communities. Catholics number about 23 million in India, or roughly 1.6 per cent of the population, according to Vatican figures.
Several witnesses called for a stronger US response. Raqib Naik, founder of the Center for the Study of Organized Hate, said Washington should designate India as a country of particular concern, arguing that meaningful action cannot begin without first acknowledging the scale of the problem. He also called for sanctions and greater awareness of what he described as transnational repression.
Former US ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice Stephen Rapp urged more robust pressure on the Indian government, including efforts to document violations in ways that could support future international prosecutions. Religious freedom advocate David Curry said human rights and religious liberty should be treated as essential parts of diplomatic engagement rather than peripheral concerns.
The testimony underlined a widening gap between India’s democratic self-presentation and the experience described by religious freedom advocates. For Christians in particular, the concern is not simply one of isolated incidents, but of an atmosphere in which legal pressure, social hostility and periodic violence increasingly work together to narrow the space for public religious life.
