On Friday, India strongly criticized the U.S. State Department's 2023 International Religious Freedom report, describing it as "deeply biased" and a "one-sided projection of issues." The response came during the weekly press briefing where External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal highlighted concerns over the report's integrity and fairness.
Mr. Jaiswal expressed that the report not only questioned the integrity of specific legal judgments by Indian courts but also shed light on the United States' own track record in handling domestic hate crimes. He emphasized, "The exercise itself is a mix of imputations, misrepresentations, selective usage of facts, reliance on biased sources, and a one-sided projection of issues. This extends even to the depiction of our Constitutional provisions and duly enacted laws of India. It has selectively picked incidents to advance a pre-conceived narrative as well."
The report, unveiled on Wednesday by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, criticized several countries, including India, for failing to protect the religious rights of minority groups. Mr. Blinken noted a concerning increase in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, and demolitions of homes and places of worship in India. He stated, "In India, we see a concerning increase in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, demolitions of homes and places of worship for members of minority faith communities. At the same time, people around the world are also working hard to protect religious freedom."
In response to the report, Mr. Jaiswal highlighted the law and order situation in the U.S., citing numerous hate crimes and racial attacks on Indian nationals and other minorities. "In 2023, India has officially taken up numerous cases in the U.S. of hate crimes, racial attacks on Indian nationals and other minorities, vandalization and targeting of places of worship, violence and mistreatment by law enforcement authorities, as well as the according of political space to advocates of extremism and terrorism abroad," he said, rejecting the report's observations about India.
Mr. Blinken had pointed out that in India, Christian communities reported incidents where local police aided mobs disrupting worship services or stood by during attacks, only to arrest the victims on conversion charges. The report also criticized the drive for the UCC, noting that various personal laws, instead of a uniform civil code, apply to members of different religious communities in matters such as marriage, divorce, adoption, and inheritance based on religion, faith, and culture.
Mr. Jaiswal concluded by asserting that the U.S. report appeared to intrude into India's legislative affairs, questioning the validity of laws and regulations and challenging the integrity of certain legal judgments by Indian courts.
0 Comments