India: Human Rights Assessments
Updated October 26, 2023
India: Human Rights Assessments
Overview
to the Indian government’s promotion of Hindu
As reported by the State Department’s 2022 Country
nationalism, and engagement and facilitation of systematic,
Reports on Human Rights Practices (Human Rights
ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.”
Reports or HRRs), India is a multiparty, federal,
parliamentary democracy. States and union territories have
Press Freedom
primary responsibility for maintaining law and order, and
The 2022 HRR states that, while the Indian government
the central government provides policy oversight. India is
generally respected press freedom in 2022, “there were
identified by U.S. government agencies, the United
instances in which the government or actors considered
Nations, and some nongovernmental organizations as the
close to the government allegedly pressured or harassed
site of numerous human rights abuses, many of them
media outlets critical of the government, including through
significant, some seen as perpetrated by agents of state and
online trolling.” It notes “restrictions on freedom of
federal governments. The reported scope and scale of
expression and media, including violence or threats of
abuses has increased under the leadership of Prime Minister
violence, unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists,
Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata
and enforcement of or threat to enforce criminal libel laws
Party, particularly since their reelection in 2019.
to limit expression.” France-based Reporters Without
Borders’ (RSF) 2023 Press Freedom Index ranks India
Many analyses also warn of democratic backsliding in
161st of 180 countries, down from 150th in 2022 and
India. For example, since 2019, the Sweden-based Varieties
continuing a seven-year downward trend. RSF says “press
of Democracies project has classified India as “an electoral
freedom is in crisis” in India, which it calls “one of the
autocracy”; in 2023, it called India “one of the worst
world’s most dangerous countries for the media.”
autocratizers in the last 10 years.”
RSF finds
Since 2021, U.S.-based
“charges of defamation, sedition, contempt of court and
nonprofit Freedom House has redesignated India as “Partly
Free,”
endangering national security are increasingly used against
contending that “Modi and his party are tragically
journalists critical of the government, who are branded as
driving India itself toward authoritarianism.” The New
‘
Delhi government issued a “rebuttal” of the
anti-national.’” According to Freedom House, “attacks on
Freedom House
press freedom have escalated dramatically under the Modi
conclusions, calling them “misleading, incorrect, and
government,” with Indian authorities using various laws “to
misplaced.” The following sections describe selected areas
quiet critical voices in the media.”
of human rights concerns.
Freedom of Expression
Religious Freedom
According to the 2022 HRR, violations of online freedoms
About 80% of Indians are Hindu, 14% are Muslim, just
in 2022 included restrictions on internet access, disruptions
over 2% are Christian, and just under 2% are Sikh. 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
that calls internet shutdowns “dangerous acts of digital
year” in India. It notes “cow vigilantism” against non-
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 that
“
faced intimidation over political and religious issues.”
some [Indian] officials are ignoring or even supporting”
Meanwhile, the Indian government has escalated pressure
such attacks. The Indian government’s response noted what
it called “ill
on U.S.-based tech platforms including Facebook, Twitter,
-informed comments by senior U.S. officials”
and WhatsApp over the companies’ reluctance to comply
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
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India: Human Rights Assessments
Civil Society
restrictions,” and notes reports that human rights monitors
The 2022 HRR notes the government’s “increased
have been “restrained or harassed” by state agents there.
monitoring and regulation of some NGOs that received
Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) World Report 2023
foreign funding” in India, as well as reports of some NGOs
criticizes both the Public Safety Act and the Armed Forces
being “denied renewals [of their operating permits] as
(Special Powers) Act as allowing for mass detentions
reprisal for their work on ‘politically sensitive’ topics such
without charges and impunity for security forces “even for
as human rights or environmental activism.” Freedom
serious human rights abuses.” According to AI, J&K
House reports that some NGOs in India, particularly those
“accounted for the highest proportion of deaths involving
working on human rights, “continue to face threats, legal
the police in India between April 2020 and March 2022.”
harassment, excessive police force, and occasionally lethal
violence.” NGOs in India have for years faced financing
Women’s Status
restrictions via the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act
According to the 2022 HRR, there was a “lack of
(FCRA), which requires NGOs to register with or gain prior
investigation of and accountability for gender-based
permission from the government to operate. Over the past
violence, including domestic and intimate partner violence,
decade, the number of NGOs registered under the FCRA
sexual violence, workplace violence, child, early, and
has decreased by more than half. The act has been “misused
forced marriage, femicide, and other forms of such
by government agencies to silence NGOs,” according to
violence” in India. It notes reports that “low conviction
London-based Amnesty International (AI), which in 2020
rates in rape cases was one of the main reasons sexual
ended its India operations following what it called “years of
violence continued unabated and at times unreported.”
official threats, intimidation and harassment.”
Dowry disputes, so-called honor killings, and domestic
violence also “remain serious problems.” HRW’s 2021
Corruption
report identified “systemic barriers to justice for survivors
The 2022 HRR contends that India suffers from “serious
of sexual violence in India, including stigma, fear of
government corruption,” and, despite government efforts to
retaliation, hostile or dismissive police response, and a lack
address abuses and corruption, “A lack of accountability for
of access to adequate legal and health support services.”
official misconduct persisted at all levels of government,
contributing to widespread impunity.” Berlin-based
Other Issues
Transparency International’s “Corruption Perceptions
The 2022 HRR also finds significant human rights issues in
Index,” which measures relative degrees of global
India included “credible reports of” unlawful and arbitrary
corruption, ranks India 85th of 180 world countries. Its
killings, including extrajudicial killings by the government
“Global Corruption Barometer” found 89% of Indian
or its agents; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or
citizens “think government corruption is a big problem.”
degrading treatment or punishment by police and prison
Freedom House argues that, “Large-scale political
officials; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions;
corruption scandals have repeatedly exposed bribery and
arbitrary arrest and detention; politically motivated
other malfeasance, but a great deal of corruption is thought
imprisonments or detentions; arbitrary or unlawful
to go unreported and unpunished, and the authorities have
interference with privacy; refoulement of refugees; and
been accused of selective, partisan enforcement.”
crimes involving violence and discrimination targeting
members of minority groups based on social status or
Human Trafficking and Bonded Labor
sexual orientation or gender identity.
The State Department’s 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report
places India in the “Tier 2” category, meaning its
Issues for Congress
government “does not fully meet the minimum standards
In the 118th Congress, H.Res. 542—“Condemning human
for the elimination of trafficking, but is making significant
rights violations and violations of international religious
efforts to do so.” It finds failure to meet minimum standards
freedom in India, including those targeting Muslims, Christians,
“in several key areas,” including anti-trafficking law
Sikhs, Dalits, Adivasis, and other religious and cultural
enforcement efforts “inadequate compared to the scale of
minorities”—was introduced in the House in June 2023,
the problem” and high acquittal rates (84%) for accused
traffickers. Freedom House notes that, while the Indian
Also in the 118th Congress, S.Res. 424—expressing the sense
constitution bans human trafficking and bonded labor is
of the Senate that the U.S. government engage New Delhi “to
illegal, estimates suggest that 20-50 million workers are
seek a swift end to the persecution of, and violence against,
affected, and “The use of child labor reportedly surged
religious minorities and human rights defenders in India and a
during the COVID-19 lockdowns.”
reversal of government policies that discriminate against
Muslims and Christians on the basis of their respective
Human Rights in Kashmir
faiths”—was introduced in the Senate in October 2023.
Until recently, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) was India’s only
The Biden Administration requests $134 mil ion in foreign
Muslim-majority state; today India has none. In 2019, the
assistance to India for FY2024. Congress could consider
government made constitutional changes removing the
whether to condition some or all such aid on improvements
state’s (nominally) autonomous status and bifurcating it
in human rights and civil liberties in India.
into two “Union Territories,” each with reduced
administrative powers. A U.N. office said the changes “risk
Rangel Fellow Rigpi Satho contributed to this report.
undermining minorities’ rights.” The 2022 HRR states that
journalists working in J&K “continued to face barriers to
K. Alan Kronstadt, Specialist in South Asian Affairs
free reporting through communications and movement
IF12198
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India: Human Rights Assessments
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https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF12198 · VERSION 13 · UPDATED