Introduction

CSW is a human rights organisation specialising in the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all. This submission seeks to bring the Human Rights Council’s (HRC’s) attention to the situation of FoRB in the Republic of India.

Targeted discrimination, harassment and attacks against minorities on the basis of their religion or belief have sharply risen since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came into power, raising serious concerns about the central government’s obligation as a duty bearer to uphold the rights and freedom established under Article 25 of the Constitution of India, which guarantees the freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion.

Prohibition on conversion

There are twelve states in India that enforce anti-conversion laws: Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Haryana Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. These laws unfairly prohibit conversion using vague definitions and interference of the state on personal matters of choice to keep or change religion or belief. The imposition of these laws has increased since the BJP became the ruling governmental party in 2014.

Provisions within these laws include fines and imprisonment and stand in violation of international human rights laws. The anti-conversion laws are rigid and their provisions unlawful. For example, anti-conversion laws in up to seven states consider the accused guilty until proven innocent.

Concerns raised, including by lawyers, human rights defenders (HRDs) and international experts, around these anti-conversion laws are long-standing. Over the years, CSW has reported on the various scaremongering tactics used by far-right Hindu groups that accompany these anti-conversion laws, including the well-documented ‘love-jihad’ campaigns related to conversions occurring in some interfaith marriages.

In addition to conversions, demeaning reconversion tactics have also been applied, through social exclusion approaches, including abuses using the Public Distribution System where for example, Christians have been refused rations, harassed, and told to renounce their faith.

Attacks against Muslims, Dalits and Christians

Risks of attacks against religious minorities have increased under the rule of the BJP. CSW is concerned that non-state actors have become embolden to spread hate speech, perpetrate targeted attacks, and engage in vigilante acts with impunity. Hate speech is prohibited under the Penal Code in India. For example, Sections 153A criminalises the promotion of enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, and 295A deals with the deliberate and malicious acts that are intended to outrage religious feeling of any class by insulting its religion or beliefs. Section 3 of The Schedule Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act) 1989 protects communities who belong to the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) from humiliation, insults, and intimidation. Despite these provisions, impunity for targeted hate speech is rife.

The use of vocabulary to undermine Muslims, such as ‘Love Jihad,’ ‘Covid Jihad’ and ‘Population Jihad’, have become widespread. In March 2022, in the state of Karnataka, Muslims students were harassed and denied access to their school because they wore a burqa, leading to a wider ban across the state to prohibit girls from wearing the hijab to college.  Vigilantism surrounding the preparation and consumption of beef has affected many Muslims, and particularly affecting minority groups where pastoral agriculture is their main income earning activity.

According to the India based monitoring group, United Christian Forum (UCF), in the first 190 days of 2023 approximately 400 incidents have been reported.  Such attacks and communal violence are anticipated to increase as India draws closer to its general election in 2024.

Draconian laws and policies

HRDs are targeted and punished by the state under arbitrary national security laws, especially under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) 1967 (amended in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2019). Provisions under the law give the State sweeping powers to invoke the UAPA if it thinks that acts threaten the sovereignty of India. The UAPA laws, through frequent amendments, afford greater police powers and restrict the chances of bail. This has led to further unlawful treatment of HRDs ranging from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment while in custody, to arrests without being informed of the charges, and being placed under unreasonably long detention without bail.

Since August 2022, 16 HRDs comprised of activists, poets, journalists, intellectuals and lawyers were arrested under the UAPA for playing a part in the violence that broke out in Bhima Koregaon, Maharashtra on 1 January 2018. These HRDs were also accused of collaborating with Maoist organisations. Father Stan Swamy, a 84-year-old Jesuit priest who worked for the marginalised community in Jharkhand for over three decades, was one of the accused. He maintained his innocence but died in judicial custody. However, forensic experts discovered that incriminating evidence was planted in his laptop to implicate him to the Maoist.  Apart from two other HRDs who are on bail (one on medical grounds and another on ‘default bail’ because the police failed to complete their investigations), 13 HRDs remain in pre-trial detention.

In December 2019, India passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 (CAA), which determines nationality eligibility based on a person’s religion. The law excludes Muslims from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan from gaining citizenship in India.  Protests against the law spread across Delhi, where the north-east of the city witnessed the worst of the violence between Muslims and Hindus. More than 700 First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered against student activists and nation-wide arrests were made throughout the pandemic period until October 2020. United Nations independent experts swiftly condemned India for carrying out arbitrary arrests on the grounds that students were merely exercising their rights of freedom to express and assemble peacefully.

Recommendations

 To the government of India:

• Condemn and act swiftly to stop acts of violence committed in the name of religion, against individuals, groups and places of worship.
•  Guarantee the right to FoRB for all, in law and in practice, in line with Article 18 of the ICCPR, to which the State is party.
•  Amend provisions of the UAPA to the extent that it satisfies the fundamental guarantees of the Indian Constitution.
• Increase efforts to reverse the culture of impunity that leads to communal violence by bringing perpetrators to justice and ensuring victims are adequately compensated.
•  Ensure anti-conversion laws currently in force in12 states are repealed or amended to conform with international human rights standards.
• Adopt a national plan on human rights to prevent violence committed in the name of religion, and other forms of oppression related to religion or belief, in line with recommendations given during India’s 2022 Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
• Establish a safe environment for human rights lawyers, civil society actors and HRDs, within a national framework supported by the appropriate legislative and regulatory texts, enabling them to carry out their work without fear of reprisals.
• Issue a standing invitation to all UN Special Procedures including the Special Rapporteur on FoRB, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of assembly and association.

To the international community

• Condemn the atrocities that are carried out against religious minorities and at every available opportunity press India to pursue policies that guarantee the right to FoRB for all, in law and in practice, in line with international laws.
• Encourage open dialogue on India to enable the full participation of civil society and support the establishment of a safe environment for human rights lawyers, civil society actors and human rights defenders, enabling them to carry out their work without fear of reprisals.
• Urge all relevant UN mechanisms, including the Special Procedures and Treaty Bodies, to include the right to FoRB in their monitoring and reporting on India, addressing the vulnerabilities and violations faced by religion or belief communities and those seeking to defend them.
• Continuously hold India accountable for FoRB violations through the various international mechanisms including the UPR and at the HRC, ensuring that recommendations include the protection and promotion of the right to FoRB in India.