India must stop harassing non-governmental organisations, reform anti-conversion laws, stop forcing Hindu personal laws on Sikh, Muslim and Christian minorities, and put pressure on state lawmakers to abandon anti-Christian laws, according to a new report from an influential US think tank on religion.
"Under Congress Party and BJP-led governments, religious minority communities and Dalits, both have faced discrimination and persecution due to a combination of overly broad or ill-defined laws, an inefficient criminal justice system, and a lack of jurisprudential consistency,” the report published on 13 February said.
"In particular, since 2014, hate crimes, social boycotts, assaults, and forced conversion have escalated dramatically,” it continues.
The report, "Constitutional and Legal Challenges Faced by Religious Minorities in India” also claims that India’s Government uses its Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) law, which controls overseas assistance to certain NGOs, to limit the activities of humanitarian organisations believed critical of Government policies.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom is independent and bipartisan. Its reports on religious freedom violations are used to make policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress.
The report recommends that the new US president put "religious freedom and human rights at the heart of all trade, aid, and diplomatic interactions with India”.
India and the US had been forging closer trade and military ties under President Barack Obama: during his first two years in office he visited India six times, signing trade and military agreements. His successor, however, will be under considerable pressure at home to be tougher on Governments that show discrimination towards Christians, as President Donald Trump campaigned on religious freedom both at home and globally.
The report’s authors also call for India’s anti-conversion laws to be reformed, which have resulted in ”inequitable practices against religious minorities,” they write.
Of the 29 states in India, seven have adopted a Freedom of Religion Act commonly referred to as an ‘anti-conversion law. Anti-conversion laws generally ban religious conversion by use of force or a fraudulent means but, explains the report, the failure to clearly define what makes a conversion inappropriate gives state governments unregulated discretion to accept or reject the legitimacy of religious conversions.
State governments in India have described “subtle forms of humanitarian aid and development carried out as a normal part of a Church’s mission” as a cause of improper and unethical conversions, says the report.
“India has always had this negative view of Christian humanitarian efforts,” it adds.
Referring to the Indian Divorce Act 2001 that restricts inheritance, alimony payments, and property ownership of people from interfaith marriages, the report said the law is "problematic."
"The act also interferes in the personal lives of Christians by not allowing marriage ceremonies to be conducted in a church if one of the partners is non-Christian," it added.
In March last year, the report’s authors – the US Commission on Religious Freedom (USCIRF) - sought to visit India due to its concerns about religious freedom conditions in the country. The USCIRF had the full support of the US State Department and the US Embassy in New Delhi. The Indian Government did not issue visas to the delegation.
State Department Spokesman, John Kirby, in response to a reporter’s question, stated that the department was “disappointed by this news.”
The Indian Government also failed to issue visas to USCIRF in 2001 and 2009.
PICTURE: Former President Barack Obama and Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister. Obama visited India six times during his first two years in office.
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