Updated July 5, 2023
India: Human Rights Assessments
Overview
nationalism, and engagement and facilitation of systematic,
As reported by the State Department’s 2022 Country
ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.”
Reports on Human Rights Practices (Human Rights
Reports or HRRs), India is a multiparty, federal,
Press Freedom
parliamentary democracy. States and union territories have
The 2022 HRR states that, while the Indian government
primary responsibility for maintaining law and order, and
generally respected press freedom in 2022, “there were
the central government provides policy oversight. India is
instances in which the government or actors considered
identified by U.S. government agencies, the United
close to the government allegedly pressured or harassed
Nations, and some nongovernmental organizations as the
media outlets critical of the government, including through
site of numerous human rights abuses, many of them
online trolling.” It notes “restrictions on freedom of
significant, some seen as perpetrated by agents of state and
expression and media, including violence or threats of
federal governments. The reported scope and scale of
violence, unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists,
abuses has increased under the leadership of Prime Minister
and enforcement of or threat to enforce criminal libel laws
Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata
to limit expression.” France-based Reporters Without
Party, particularly since their reelection in 2019.
Borders’ (RSF) 2023 Press Freedom Index ranks India
161st of 180 countries, down from 150th in 2022 and
Many analyses also warn of democratic backsliding in
continuing a seven-year downward trend. RSF says “press
India. For example, since 2019, the Sweden-based Varieties
freedom is in crisis” in India, which it calls “one of the
of Democracies project has classified India as “an electoral
world’s most dangerous countries for the media.” RSF finds
autocracy”; in 2023, it called India “one of the worst
“
autocratizers in the last 10 years.”
charges of defamation, sedition, contempt of court and
Since 2021, U.S.-based
endangering national security are increasingly used against
nonprofit Freedom House has re-designated India as “Partly
Free,”
journalists critical of the government, who are branded as
contending that “Modi and his party are tragically
‘anti-national.’” According to Freedom House, “attacks on
driving India itself toward authoritarianism.” The New
Delhi government issued a “rebuttal” of the
press freedom have escalated dramatically under the Modi
Freedom House
government,” with Indian authorities using various laws “to
conclusions, calling them “misleading, incorrect, and
quiet critical voices in the media.”
misplaced.” The following sections describe selected areas
of human rights concerns.
Freedom of Expression
Religious Freedom
According to the 2022 HRR, violations of online freedoms
in 2022 included restrictions on internet access, disruptions
About 80% of Indians are Hindu and 14% are Muslim. The
State Department’s
of internet access, censorship of online content, and
2022 Report on International Religious
occasional government monitoring of users of digital
Freedom (IRF) asserts that, “Attacks on members of
media, as well as threating “to enforce criminal libel laws to
religious minority communities, including killings, assaults,
limit expression.” Access Now, a global digital rights group
and intimidation, occurred in various states throughout the
year” in India. It notes “cow vigilantism” against non
that calls internet shutdowns “dangerous acts of digital
-
authoritarianism,” named India the “world’s largest
Hindus based on allegations of cow slaughter or trade in
offender” for the fifth consecutive year for blacking out the
beef (cows are considered sacred animals in the Hindu
internet at least 84 times in 2022. The group reports India
religion), reported violent attacks against Christians
accounted for more than half of all documented shutdowns
averaging about 11 per week, and adoption of laws
globally since 2016, and in 2022 declared that, “Free
restricting religious conversions in 13 Indian states. In
expression is not safe in India.” Freedom House finds that,
2022, Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted “[W]e’ve
in India, “Academic freedom has significantly weakened in
seen rising attacks on people and places of worship” in
recent years, as professors, students, and institutions have
India, and the U.S. Ambassador at Large for IRF added,
“[I]n India some officials are ignoring or even supporting
faced intimidation over political and religious issues.”
rising attacks on people and places of worship.” The Indian
Meanwhile, the Indian government has escalated pressure
government’s response noted what it called “ill
on U.S.-based tech platforms including Facebook, Twitter,
-informed
and WhatsApp over the companies’ reluctance to comply
comments by senior U.S. officials” and suggested the IRF
report was “based on motivated inputs and biased views.”
with data and takedown requests, and scrutinizing video

streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon for content
Since 2020, the U.S. Commission on International
deemed controversial by Hindu nationalists and their allies
Religious Freedom has recommended that the Secretary of
in the Indian government.
State designate India as a Country of Particular of Concern
(CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act “due
to the Indian government’s promotion of Hindu
https://crsreports.congress.gov

---

India: Human Rights Assessments
Civil Society
harassed” by state agents there. Human Rights Watch’s
The 2022 HRR notes the government’s “increased
(HRW) World Report 2023 criticizes both the Public Safety
monitoring and regulation of some NGOs that received
Act and the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act as
foreign funding” in India, as well as reports of some NGOs
allowing for mass detentions without charges and impunity
being “denied renewals [of their operating permits] as
for security forces “even for serious human rights abuses.”
reprisal for their work on ‘politically sensitive’ topics such
According to AI, “Jammu and Kashmir accounted for the
as human rights or environmental activism.” Freedom
highest proportion of deaths involving the police in India
House reports that some NGOs in India, particularly those
between April 2020 and March 2022.”
working on human rights, “continue to face threats, legal
harassment, excessive police force, and occasionally lethal
Women’s Status
violence.” Foreign NGOs have for years faced financing
According to the 2022 HRR, there was a “lack of
restrictions in India via the Foreign Contribution
investigation of and accountability for gender-based
(Regulation) Act. The act has been “misused by
violence, including domestic and intimate partner violence,
government agencies to silence NGOs,” according to
sexual violence, workplace violence, child, early, and
Amnesty International (AI), which in 2020 ended its India
forced marriage, femicide, and other forms of such
operations following what it called “years of official
violence” in India. It notes reports that “low conviction
threats, intimidation and harassment.”
rates in rape cases was one of the main reasons sexual
violence continued unabated and at times unreported.”
Corruption
Dowry disputes, so-called honor killings, and domestic
The 2022 HRR contends that India suffers from “serious
violence also “remain serious problems.” HRW’s 2021
government corruption,” and, despite government efforts to
report identified “systemic barriers to justice for survivors
address abuses and corruption, “A lack of accountability for
of sexual violence in India, including stigma, fear of
official misconduct persisted at all levels of government,
retaliation, hostile or dismissive police response, and a lack
contributing to widespread impunity.” Berlin-based
of access to adequate legal and health support services.”
Transparency International’s “Corruption Perceptions
Index,” which measures relative degrees of global
Other Issues
corruption, ranks India 85th of 180 world countries. Its
The 2022 HRR also finds significant human rights issues in
“Global Corruption Barometer” found 89% of Indian
India included “credible reports of” unlawful and arbitrary
citizens “think government corruption is a big problem.”
killings, including extrajudicial killings by the government
Freedom House argues that, “Large-scale political
or its agents; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or
corruption scandals have repeatedly exposed bribery and
degrading treatment or punishment by police and prison
other malfeasance, but a great deal of corruption is thought
officials; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions;
to go unreported and unpunished, and the authorities have
arbitrary arrest and detention; politically motivated
been accused of selective, partisan enforcement.”
imprisonments or detentions; arbitrary or unlawful
interference with privacy; refoulement of refugees; and
Human Trafficking and Bonded Labor
crimes involving violence and discrimination targeting
The State Department’s 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report
members of minority groups based on social status or
places India in the “Tier 2” category, meaning its
sexual orientation or gender identity.
government “does not fully meet the minimum standards
for the elimination of trafficking, but is making significant
Issues for Congress
efforts to do so. ... However, the government did not meet
In the 118th Congress, H.Res. 542—“Condemning human
the minimum standards in several key areas,” including
rights violations and violations of international religious
anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts “inadequate
freedom in India, including those targeting Muslims, Christians,
compared to the scale of the problem” and high acquittal
Sikhs, Dalits, Adivasis, and other religious and cultural
rates (84%) for accused traffickers. Freedom House notes
minorities”—was introduced in the House in June 2023.
that, while the Indian constitution bans human trafficking
and bonded labor is illegal, estimates suggest that 20-50
In February 2023, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
million workers are affected, and, “The use of child labor
Chairman Sen. Bob Menendez issued a report on U.S. Indo-
reportedly surged during the COVID-19 lockdowns.”
Pacific strategy which includes a call for the Biden
Administration to “make advancing human rights and
Human Rights in Kashmir
democracy, which are vital to long-term stability and
Until recently, Jammu and Kashmir was India’s only
prosperity, core tenants” of that strategy.
Muslim-majority state; today India has none. In 2019, the
The Biden Administration requests $134 mil ion in foreign
government repealed Article 370 of the Indian Constitution
assistance to India for FY2024. Congress could consider
and Section 35A of its Annex, removing the state’s
whether to condition some or all such aid on improvements
(nominally) autonomous status and bifurcating it into two
in human rights and civil liberties in India.
“Union Territories,” each with reduced administrative
powers. The U.N. Office of the HCHR said the changes
Rangel Fellow Rigpi Satho contributed to this report.
“risk undermining minorities’ rights.” The 2022 HRR
states, “Journalists working in Jammu and Kashmir
K. Alan Kronstadt, Specialist in South Asian Affairs
continued to face barriers to free reporting through
IF12198
communications and movement restrictions,” and notes
reports that human rights monitors have been “restrained or
https://crsreports.congress.gov

---

India: Human Rights Assessments


Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to
congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress.
Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of information that has
been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the
United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be
reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include
copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you
wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.

https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF12198 · VERSION 11 · UPDATED

---