WASHINGTON: The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has once again recommended that the United States State Department designate India as a “country of particular concern,” citing what it described as “ongoing, systematic, and egregious religious freedom conditions” in its 2026 assessment and hearings.
The matter was discussed during an in-person hearing held in Washington on Thursday, where commissioners, lawmakers, scholars, and legal experts presented their views on the situation of religious minorities in India, including Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, and Dalits, as well as concerns about alleged transnational repression targeting critics abroad.
USCIRF Chair Vicky Hartzler said India’s trajectory on religious freedom had continued to decline. She stated that the commission’s 2026 Annual Report again recommended India be designated as a “country of particular concern” for what it described as systematic violations of religious freedom.
Hartzler further said 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 discriminatory legislation, arbitrary detention of religious leaders, and failure to intervene in attacks against religious minority communities.”
She also referred to legal frameworks governing religious conversions and security laws, noting that 13 out of 28 Indian states now enforce strict anti-conversion laws. According to her, these laws include severe punishments, in some cases life imprisonment, for individuals accused of facilitating religious conversions from Hinduism to another faith.
USCIRF Vice Chair Asif Mahmood, in his written remarks, highlighted what he described as growing transnational repression and pressure on religious communities beyond India’s borders.
He stated that the Indian government has allegedly targeted religious minorities and advocates abroad through surveillance and monitoring, and in extreme cases, assassination attempts, particularly against Sikh individuals in North America.
Chris Smith, a member of the US House of Representatives, focused on India’s Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) and its impact on civil society organisations.
He said the Indian government had tolerated and at times facilitated serious rights violations against religious minorities, particularly Christians, Muslims, and Sikhs, and warned that proposed amendments to the FCRA could significantly impact religious and charitable institutions.
Smith stated that most affected organisations were Christian churches, hospitals, and schools, and warned that the amendments could expose their assets to potential government control or expropriation if licensing conditions were not met.
Former ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice Stephen Rapp described what he called a worsening pattern of violence and lack of accountability in India.
He said that over the past decade, atrocities against minorities had become more normalised, with everyday violence and calls for violence becoming routine, and claimed that perpetrators are rarely held accountable, leading to entrenched impunity.
Rapp also noted that India consistently ranks among high-risk countries for mass killings and atrocities in global early warning assessments.
Scholar Angana Chatterji of the University of California, Berkeley, described what she called a structural shift in religious and political life in India.
She said that under what she termed an authoritarian regime, freedom of religion is increasingly under threat for minority communities, and described rising polarisation between majority and minority groups, which she said is endangering religious pluralism.
Human rights researcher Raqib Naik alleged large-scale abuses against Muslims and refugees, claiming state-led violence and dispossession had reached an unprecedented level.
He referred to alleged cases involving Bengali Muslims in Assam and other states being forcibly taken to border areas and pushed across into Bangladesh, as well as similar allegations involving Rohingya refugees.
Naik also claimed that in 2025, Indian naval forces forcibly expelled around 40 Rohingya refugees into the Andaman Sea, providing them life jackets and ordering them to swim toward Myanmar.
Professor Arjun Sethi focused on alleged transnational repression targeting diaspora activists, stating that Indian authorities were involved in assassinations of activists in North America.
He referred to the 2023 killing of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, claiming Canadian authorities had linked the incident to the Indian government, and also mentioned an alleged plot against Sikh American activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the United States.
Sethi further alleged that Indian authorities routinely enable rights violations across the country and in Kashmir, discriminate against minority communities, suppress civil society organisations, and use laws to target activists, journalists, and public figures.