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WASHINGTON: The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has once again urged the State Department to declare India a “Country of Particular Concern”, citing in its assessment and hearing testimony as “ongoing, systematic, and egregious religious freedom conditions” in the country.
The issue was examined during an in-person hearing in Washington on Thursday, where commissioners, lawmakers, scholars, and legal experts expressed their views on conditions facing Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Dalits, as well as allegations of growing transnational repression targeting critics abroad.
Vicky Hartzler, the USCIRF chief, said India’s trajectory on religious freedom had continued to decline. She stated: “Our 2026 Annual Report, USCIRF once again recommended that the State Department designate India as a Country of Particular Concern for its ongoing, systematic, and egregious religious freedom conditions.”
She added that under the current political environment, “the Indian government, at both the national, state and local levels, continues to facilitate and tolerate religious freedom violations through the use of discriminatory legislation, arbitrary detention of religious leaders, and failure to intervene in attacks against religious minority communities.
