US discredits India for 'rising attacks on minorities'

FREEDOM OF FAITH: Modi's 'anti-conversion' law has been highlighted as a sign of deterioration in religious freedom in India.

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New Delhi: The US State Department has reported deterioration in religious freedom in India and cited cases of 'organised societal attacks' against minority groups in the country.

Noting that a vast majority of citizens of all religions lived in peaceful co-existence in India, the Bush administration also said that whenever there were attacks against minority religious groups, the state police and enforcement agencies often did not act swiftly enough to effectively counter such attacks.

"The Constitution (of India) provides for freedom of religion and the National Government generally respected this right in practice," the State Department said in its annual International Religious Freedom Report released on Friday.

Mandated by the US Congress to present an annual report on religious freedom around the world, the administration also speaks of terrorist violence and 'atrocities' against certain sections of people, including the Kashmiri Pandits, while pointing out that terrorists attempted to provoke inter-religious conflict by detonating bombs.

"Some state and local governments, including those of Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh enacted or amended 'anti-conversion' laws during the reporting period. The Governor of Rajasthan, later elected to the Presidency, refused to sign her state's law, effectively nullifying it," the report cited.