USCIRF Reports Religious Freedom Concerns and Transnational Repression by India

USCIRF Reports Religious Freedom Concerns and Transnational Repression by India

India’s religious freedom record has come under increasing scrutiny from international bodies, most notably the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). 

The USCIRF’s 2025 Annual Report has recommended that the US Department of State designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC), citing a continued deterioration of religious freedom conditions throughout 2024. This recommendation, based on findings of systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, has been met with strong condemnation and rebuttal from the Indian government. 

Adding another layer to this complex situation, a U.S. court has recently summoned the Indian government in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate a Khalistan supporter in the United States. In October 2024, India sent an investigative committee to the United States to collaborate with American authorities on the case. The team’s objective was to exchange information and examine the evidence presented by U.S. officials concerning the alleged plot. 

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The USCIRF report – released on March 25, 2025 – details a concerning array of issues contributing to its recommendation. It highlights that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members, including prime minister Narendra Modi, propagated hateful rhetoric and disinformation against Muslims and other religious minorities prior to the national elections in June 2024, allegedly to gather political support. This rhetoric is accused of fuelling attacks on religious minorities that persisted after the election, including vigilante violence, targeted and arbitrary killings, and the demolition of property and places of worship.

Authorities in India are also accused of exploiting anti-terror and financing laws, such as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), to crack down on civil society organisations and detain members of religious minorities, human rights defenders, and journalists reporting on religious freedom. The government’s replacement of its criminal code with new legislation is also flagged as potentially leaving religious minorities susceptible to targeting if deemed as “endangering the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India”.

Further concerns raised by USCIRF include the implementation rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), offering fast-track citizenship to non-Muslim minorities fleeing specific countries. Combined with the National Register of Citizens (NRC), this has sparked fear among Muslim communities of potential disenfranchisement. The report also points to instances of authorities facilitating the expropriation and demolition of places of worship, including the construction of Hindu temples atop razed mosques, and the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on the site of the Babri Masjid.

Discriminatory state-level anti-conversion laws and cow slaughter laws are also highlighted as tools used to target religious minorities. USCIRF notes the detention of Christians under accusations of violating anti-conversion laws and the strengthening of such laws in states like Uttar Pradesh.

In a significant development, USCIRF also raises concerns about the Indian government’s expansion of repressive tactics to target religious minorities abroad, specifically members of the Sikh community and their advocates. This includes allegations of denied consular services, revocation of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards, threats of violence, and surveillance. The report specifically mentions corroborated intelligence linking an official in India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and diplomats to the 2023 assassination attempt of an American Sikh activist in New York.

Despite USCIRF’s recommendation to designate India as a CPC and impose targeted sanctions on individuals and entities like RAW, it is unlikely that the U.S. government will take such binding action. USCIRF’s views and recommendations are advisory and not binding on the U.S. government.

Adding a new dimension to the accusations of transnational repression, a U.S. court has issued summons to various officials in the Indian government, including the Modi government itself, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, former R&AW chief Samant Goel, R&AW agent Vikram Yadav, and Indian businessman Nikhil Gupta, in connection with an alleged plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a supporter of a separate Sikh state Khalistan. 

This follows accusations from the U.S. administration in November 2023 about the Modi government’s alleged attempt to assassinate Pannun in the US. The U.S. Department of Justice had stated that an Indian government employee directed a murder plot from India targeting the US-based Sikh separatist leader. USCIRF has also expressed alarm over India’s increased transnational targeting of religious minorities and their advocates, calling the alleged involvement in assassination plots a “severe escalation of India’s efforts to silence religious minorities and human rights defenders both within its country and abroad”.

The CPC designation serves as a basis for the U.S. government to take various actions aimed at addressing religious freedom violations. The International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) outlines several potential policy responses, including policy actions or placement on the State Department’s Special Watch List (SWL) for governmental violators, noting that the SWL is for countries with “severe” rather than “particularly severe” violations. 

Furthermore, it enables the ability to bar entry to the United States of foreign officials responsible for particularly severe religious freedom violations. Other potential responses include public condemnation in multilateral fora, the reduction or cancellation of foreign assistance funds, the delay or cancellation of cultural exchanges, and the delay or cancellation of working, official, or state visits.