Religious freedom conditions worsened considerably in India this year—particularly in the months prior to and immediately following a national election. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom offered that assessment in an October update on India that provided an overview of religious freedom violations occurring in 2024. “In addition to the enforcement of discriminatory state-level legislation and propagation of hateful rhetoric, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government made a concerted effort to implement election promises that negatively and disproportionately impacted religious minorities and their ability to practice their faith,” the commission report states. From January to March, 161 reported incidents of violence against Christians in India occurred. They ranged from violent attacks on churches and prayer meetings to physical assault, harassment and false allegations of forced conversions. “In March, a group of U.N. experts raised alarm about the level of violence and hate crimes against religious minorities in the leadup to the national elections, including vigilante violence, targeted and arbitrary killings, demolition of property and harassment,” the commission report states. Anti-conversion laws target minorities Local authorities in 12 of India’s 28 states use anti-conversion laws—often punishable by significant fines and prison terms— to target religious minorities, the commission report notes. “Since the beginning of the year,

Assam schools are now directed to allow students to wear religious symbols, ensuring respect for cultural identities. The order follows an NCPCR advisory and aims to prevent discrimination. The Assam government, in a recent order directed schools in the state to allow students to wear 'rakhis or tilaks', among other cultural and religious symbols, especially during festivals. The order mandates that schools abstain from observing such practices which could 'expose children to corporal punishment or discrimination'. The directive comes in response to National Commission for Protection of Child Rights' (NCPCR) advisory, issued on August 8, 2024, observing that schools must respect and allow students’ rights to follow their cultural and religious identities. Citing that such practices of disallowing students from following their traditions are practiced by school teachers and other staff, the government letter issued by Deputy Secretary of the Department of School Education, Aditi Barman on October 1 mandated that all schools follow the guidelines and issue necessary instructions accordingly. Speaking to India Today NE, Hindutva leader from Assam, Satya Ranjan Borah, expressed his support for the directive issued by the state government, criticising "Christian missionary schools for devaluing Constitutional duties and defying the Constitution of India". He referenced Article 51A of the Indian Constitution,

Indigenous Christians in India’s strife-torn Manipur say they are worried over the state government’s move to deny power, water, and welfare schemes to "unregistered" villages in the hilly northeastern state. Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Oct. 8 instructed the authorities not to provide essential services like water and power and benefits of various government welfare schemes to villages in the hilly districts if they are unregistered. Though Singh did not clarify what he meant by "unregistered villages," media reports said the chief minister was referring to villages that have emerged in the Kuki-dominated areas since 2006. “This move is yet another attempt to target indigenous Christians who are mostly from the Kuki-Zo community, living in the state's five hilly districts,” said a Church leader based in the capital, Imphal. He requested that his name not be revealed for security reasons. Another church leader based in a hilly district said that many people lost their houses and businesses during the ongoing sectarian violence and took shelter in other villages. "A few of them have set up temporary houses in other villages. If the government does not recognize them, it will be like adding insult to injury,” he said on the condition of anonymity. Singh, a

Dalits following Christianity must be accorded Scheduled Caste status, the way Dalits following Sikh and Buddhism were granted after amendments to Article 341 in 1956 and 1990 respectively, a group of Dalit Christian organisations demanded. Led by All India United Christian Movement for Equal Rights (AIUCMER), Telangana United Christians and Pastors Association (TUCPA), and senior bishops, the delegation met former Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan, chairman of the 2022-K.G. Balakrishnan Commission, in Delhi on Saturday. The Commission, due to submit its report later this year, is examining whether Scheduled Caste status should be accorded to Dalits who converted to other religions, other than Buddhism and Sikhism. According to the representation, the Constitutional mandate of Para 1 and Para 2 in the amendment of Article 341 (1) was fulfilled, but Para 3, which states, “Notwithstanding the above classification” and prescribing Scheduled Castes must belong to a particular religion remains communal. It violates the tenets of equality, discrimination based on religion, equality of opportunity, among other principles, they said. It supported its cause and said that various Commissions — Mandal, Kaka Kalelkar, Justice Ranganath Misra — noted that disabilities of the SCs continued irrespective of conversion to other religions, including Christianity. According to the petitioners, the

More than 160 violent attacks against Christians were reported in India this past year as laws passed by the country’s reigning Hindu nationalist government added to the threat to religious freedom in the nation. According to a recent report from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Christians in India are facing increasingly hostile threats of violence and religious discrimination. USCIRF is now calling for India to be added to the U.S. government’s list of international religious freedom violators as a country of particular concern (CPC) — a move that has provoked outrage from the country’s government. A spokesperson for India’s foreign ministry spoke out against USCIRF on Thursday, describing the U.S. agency as “a biased organization with a political agenda,” according to news reports. “We reject this malicious report,” the spokesperson said, “which only serves to discredit the USCIRF further.” The spokesperson called on USCIRF to “desist from such agenda-driven efforts” and to instead focus its attention on human rights issues within its own country. Incidents of religious freedom violations listed in the USCIRF report include physical attacks on individuals, places of worship, and schools; restrictions on public prayer; and false accusations of “forced conversion” for which the punishment ranges from hefty fines in

United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing Balakrishnan Rajagopal has filed an application to assist the Supreme Court in framing guidelines from an international human rights law perspective to address the concerns of punitive demolitions in India. The Rapporteur, in an application on Friday, pointed to the danger of using punitive demolition by the State as a tool for land-grabbing. Earlier this month, while hearing a batch of petitions over punitive demolitions happening across India, Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan had expressed an intention to lay down pan-India guidelines to address concerns. Rajagopal has told the Supreme Court that the State-driven, punitive and arbitrary demolition of homes and commercial establishments is an “aggravated form of human rights violation”. “Arbitrary demolitions carried out for purportedly punitive reasons are aggravated forms of human rights violations, especially when they target or result in discriminatory impacts against minorities, and when demolitions result in homelessness, they may constitute a violation of the prohibition against cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment,” LiveLaw quoted the filing. The top court scheduled the next hearing on October 01. On September 17 the Supreme Court passed an interim order staying demolitions without its permission till October 1, the next date of hearing. The bench