Religious Freedom Report: US concerned over recent religious incidents in India

The United States is now concerned over reports of religiously-motivated killings, coerced religious conversions, and actions restricting the right of individuals to change religious beliefs in India.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry has released the International Religious Freedom Report for 2014 in Washington.

Taking a broader view of the religious incidents and violations, the report, however, gave a thumb up to the Indian authorities as they "continued to enforce laws designed to protect "religious sentiments" and minimize the risk of religious violence, which some argued had the effect of limiting freedom of expression related to religion."

According to the report, the local non-governmental organization (NGO) reported over 800 religiously-motivated attacks in the year 2014. Police arrested Christians and Muslims for alleged "coerced conversion" of Hindus.

Moreover, in Madhya Pradesh, the Shivpuri district administration has arrested four Hindu Dalits for converting to Islam. Six out of 29 state governments enforced existing "anti-conversion" laws, as per the report.

Pointing indirectly to the Congress as well as the BJP governments, the report said that hundreds of cases related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the 2002 Gujarat riots are still pending in courts.

"The Nanavati-Mehta Commission on the 2002 riots in Gujarat ultimately released its final report on November 18. Some NGOs called into question the impartiality of the findings."

The report said the Gujarat government expanded the number of Muslim-majority areas in Ahmedabad designated legally "disturbed".

Authorities included the neighborhoods of Gulberg Society and Naroda Patiya, two areas worst affected by the 2002 riots.

The designation requires residents to obtain government permission to sell real estate in affected areas through March 31, 2018. NGOs said that, while the intent of the law was to stop the forced sales of properties in areas that experienced communal violence, the law has led to communal isolation by limiting areas where Muslims may sell property.

(Image: Indiatimes)