A 2016 report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said religious tolerance had "deteriorated" and "religious freedom violations" had increased in India. During his visit to India in June, US Senator Ben Cardin, a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed concerns over religious intolerance, anti-conversion laws, and extrajudicial killings in the country. In August, during his India visit, US Secretary of State John Kerry emphasized the need to protect the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful protest.
Unchecked Attacks on Religious Minorities
The Indian government failed to stop or credibly investigate vigilante attacks against minority religious communities during 2017, Human Rights Watch said on January 18, releasing its World Report 2018. Many senior leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) publicly promoted Hindu supremacy and ultra-nationalism at the expense of fundamental rights for all Indians.
Extremist Hindu groups, many claiming to be affiliated with the ruling BJP, committed numerous assaults against Muslims and other minority communities in response to rumors that minority group members sold, bought, or killed cows for beef. Instead of taking prompt legal action against the attackers, police frequently filed complaints against the victims under laws banning cow slaughter. There were at least 38 such attacks in 2017, and 10 people were killed.
Amnesty International Report 2018
Official statistics released in November stated that more than 40,000 crimes against Scheduled Castes were reported in 2016, the Amnesty International said adding: Several incidents were reported of members of dominant castes attacking Dalits for accessing public and social spaces or for perceived caste transgressions.
Dozens of hate crimes against Muslims took place across the country. At least 10 Muslim men were lynched and many injured by vigilante cow protection groups, many of which seemed to operate with the support of members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Some arrests were made, but no convictions were reported. In September, Rajasthan police cleared six men suspected of killing Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer who had named the suspects before he died. Some BJP officials made statements which appeared to justify the attacks. In September, the Supreme Court said that state governments were obligated to compensate victims of cow vigilante violence.
Freedom of expression
Journalists and press freedom came under increasing attack. In September, journalist Gauri Lankesh, an outspoken critic of Hindu nationalism and the caste system, was shot dead outside her home in Bengaluru by unidentified gunmen. The same month, journalist Shantanu Bhowmick was beaten to death near Agartala while covering violent political clashes. In September, photojournalist Kamran Yousuf was arrested in J&K for allegedly instigating people to throw stones at security forces, under a law which does not meet international human rights standards. In November, journalist Sudip Datta Bhowmik was shot dead, allegedly by a paramilitary force member, at a paramilitary camp near Agartala. In December, a French film-maker conducting research for a documentary on the Kashmir conflict was detained for three days in J&K, allegedly for violating visa regulations.
Journalists continued to face criminal defamation cases filed by politicians and companies. In June, the Karnataka legislature sentenced two journalists to one year's imprisonment each for allegedly writing defamatory articles about members of the state assembly.
Not surpringly, in January, the Home Ministry said that it had refused to renew the foreign funding license of the NGO known as People's Watch because it had allegedly portrayed India's human rights record in a "negative light" internationally.
Karnataka Chief Minister accuses BJP of terror links
Tellingly, on Jan 10, 2018, Chief Minister of the Indian State of Karnatka, Siddaramaiah, said the BJP, RSS and Bajrang Dal have extremists within their organizations.
Addressing the media in Chamarajnagar, the chief minister said: "They are also extremists of one kind. BJP, RSS, and Bajrang Dal have extremists. Anybody who spoils communal harmony will not be tolerated," Siddaramaiah said.
He went on to say, that his government would not differentiate between extremists. "We will not spare anybody, be it [Popular Front of India], [Social Democratic Party of India], Bajrang Dal or [Vishwa Hindu Parishad]," he said.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
