US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the United States is monitoring what he describes as a rise in human rights abuses in India by some officials, in a rare direct rebuke by Washington of the South Asian nation’s rights record. “We regularly engage with our Indian partners on these shared values (of human rights) and, to that end, we are monitoring some recent concerning developments in India including a rise in human rights abuses by some government, police and prison officials,” Blinken said on Monday in a joint press briefing with US defense secretary Lloyd Austin, Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and India’s defense minister Rajnath Singh.
Blinken’s remarks came days after US Representative Ilhan Omar questioned the alleged reluctance of the US government to criticize Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on human rights. Modi’s critics say his Hindu nationalist ruling party has fostered religious polarization since coming to power in 2014. Since then, right-wing Hindu groups have launched attacks on minorities, claiming they are trying to prevent religious conversions. Several Indian states have passed or are considering anti-conversion laws that challenge the constitutionally protected right to freedom of belief.
Read more here.
