India's religious minorities face worsening pressure as laws tighten and mob attacks go unpunished: USCIRF
The report, which covers events across the year, documents attacks on Muslim and Christian communities by Hindu nationalist mobs, a wave of new anti-conversion legislation across multiple states, and the forced deportation of religious minorities whom officials have labelled illegal migrants.
India's government has not publicly responded to the findings. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has consistently dismissed international criticism of its minority policies as interference in domestic affairs.
Mob attacks and communal violence
Hindu nationalist groups carried out a series of attacks on minority communities throughout the year, the report says, largely without police intervention.
In March, violence erupted in Maharashtra after a hardline group, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, demanded the removal of the tomb of Aurangzeb, a 17th-century Mughal emperor. Riots injured dozens of people and triggered a curfew. In June, a mob attacked 20 Christian families in Odisha after they refused demands to convert to Hinduism, leaving eight people hospitalised.
A militant attack in April on tourists in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley, in which 26 people were killed, sharply intensified anti-Muslim sentiment across the country. Gunmen reportedly ordered victims to recite an Islamic verse, shooting those who could not. The attack triggered a five-day military standoff between India and Pakistan. In its aftermath, Muslims were reportedly killed in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh in apparent reprisal attacks.
Anti-conversion laws tightened across states
India's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but 12 of its 28 states now maintain anti-conversion laws, and several moved to tighten them considerably in 2025.
Uttarakhand passed a law in August criminalising digital speech about religion and raising the maximum prison term for illegal conversions from 10 to 14 years. Rajasthan went further, introducing the possibility of life imprisonment for those found guilty of conducting conversions. Under the new law, anyone wishing to change their religion voluntarily must give the government two months' notice.
In Arunachal Pradesh, authorities moved to revive a dormant decades-old anti-conversion statute, prompting protests from hundreds of thousands of Christians.
The Supreme Court signalled some concern in September, ordering nine states to justify their anti-conversion laws, with hearings to follow.
Parliament passes Waqf Amendment Bill
In May, India's Parliament passed legislation requiring that non-Muslims be appointed to the boards overseeing Waqf endowments, Islamic charitable trusts that manage mosques, seminaries and graveyards. Critics condemned the measure as state interference in Muslim religious affairs.
Protests against the bill in West Bengal turned deadly, with three people killed. The Supreme Court suspended the bill's most contested provisions in September, including a clause allowing the government to rule on whether disputed property qualifies as Waqf land.
Deportations and detention of minorities
The report documents what it describes as the illegal expulsion of citizens and refugees on religious grounds.
In May, 40 Rohingya refugees, including 15 Christians, were detained by Indian authorities, transported to international waters off the Burmese coast and forced to swim ashore with only life vests. In July, hundreds of Bengali-speaking Muslims were expelled from Assam state to Bangladesh despite being Indian citizens. BJP officials accused those removed of being Muslim infiltrators threatening national identity.
The government formalised the crackdown in September, issuing new rules under the Foreigners Act that allow special tribunals to detain individuals suspected of being foreign nationals without standard due process protections.
Human rights absent from US-India diplomacy
Despite the scope of the concerns raised, the report notes that religious freedom was largely absent from high-level exchanges between Washington and New Delhi during 2025.
When President Donald Trump hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington in February, the issue received no public airing. Vice President JD Vance's state visit to India in April centred on trade talks. Following the Kashmir attack, Mr Trump expressed unconditional support for India on social media.
USCIRF is recommending that the US impose targeted sanctions on individuals and entities it holds responsible for religious freedom violations, and that future trade and security arrangements with India be linked to measurable improvements in minority rights.