Key Points
New Delhi: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Thursday said there has been a concerning increase in hate speech, anti-conversion laws, and demolitions of homes and places of worship belonging to minority groups in India...
His remarks came as the US State Department released its annual religious freedom report, which raises concerns about the Indian governments ability to safeguard minorities, and documents instances of inflammatory remarks by public figures and complaints against them...
Ten of the countrys 28 states Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh have laws restricting religious conversion by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement, fraud, or marriage (done for the sole purpose of unlawful conversion), the report reads...
The latest report invokes a 2023 report by Irish NGO Church in Chains which said that although the Indian Constitution guarantees religious freedom, Christians in rural areas face increasing persecution from Hindu extremists motivated by Hindu nationalist ideology...
The 2023 report, submitted by the NGO to the Irish Parliament, said: The extremists attack small churches, beat pastors and members, set fire to homes and church buildings, and accuse Christians of being involved in forced conversions of Hindus...
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