NEW DELHI: India has rejected a report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), terming it "biased and motivated".

The US States Commission on International Religious Freedom continues to regurgitate biased and motivated comments about India, this time in its 2023 annual report," a statement issued by External Affairs Ministry spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi said, adding that  "we reject such misrepresentation of facts, which only serves to discredit USCIRF itself".

India "would urge US States Commission on International Religious Freedom  to desist from such efforts and develop a better understanding of India, its plurality, its democratic ethos and its constitutional mechanisms", it adds.
The USCIRF requested that the State Department include India as a "country of particular concern" for the situation of religious freedom among a number of other countries in its yearly report on the subject.

Similar recommendations from the USCIRF to the Department have been made since 2020, but they have not been followed.

The panel claimed that India's situation for religious freedom continued to deteriorate in 2022 in the India part of its most recent report.

The Commission also asked the administration of President Joe Biden to use targeted asset freezing sanctions on Indian government officials and agencies that have engaged in "serious violations" of the nation's religious freedom.

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