India: Religious Freedom Status*

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U.S. Department of State Human Rights Report 1998

The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government respects this right in practice. India is a secular state in which all faiths generally enjoy freedom of worship. Government policy does not favor any religious group. There is no national law to bar proselytizing by Indian Christians. Foreign missionaries generally can renew their visas, but since the mid-1960's the Government has refused to admit new resident foreign missionaries. Those who arrive now do so as tourists and stay for short periods. As of January 1993, there were 1,923 registered foreign Christian missionaries. As in the past, state officials refused to issue permits for foreign Christian missionaries to enter some northeastern states. Tension between Hindus and Muslims continues to pose a challenge to the secular foundation of the state (see section 5).

During the year, there was a sharp increase in attacks against Christian communities and Christian missionaries. According to Indian human rights organizations, there were over 90 incidents, primarily of mob violence that took the form of the destruction of churches and religious property and violent attacks on Christian pilgrims and leaders. The National Minorities Commission initiated investigations into many of these cases (see Section 5).

On occasion, Hindu-Muslim violence led to killings and a cycle of retaliation. For example, on November 30,1997, police in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, incensed over the killing of a colleague by Muslim youths, joined forces with armed Hindu rioters; 18 Muslims were killed in clashes with police. The People's Union for Civil Liberties, a prominent human rights organization, reported that police took advantage of the civil unrest to wreak vengeance on Muslim traders who had stopped paying them bribes. Houses and shops owned by Muslims were looted and set ablaze in full view of police; police and Hindu rioters hacked to death riot victims at the government hospital. In February Muslim militants retaliated for this incident with a series of bombings in Coimbatore. (see Section 1.g.).

The U.N. Special Rapporteur for All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief published a report in February 1997 on his visit of December 2-14, 1996, at the invitation of the Government. Having studied the situation of the majority Hindus and minority Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs, the Rapporteur concluded that the country's constitutional and legislative protections of religious freedom contributed to religious tolerance in India, as did "a conception of secularism implying not the rejection of religion but equality for all religions." He warned, however, that tolerance was susceptible to attack by religious extremists (see Section 5).

In July Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee told Parliament that he opposed a proposal by the Delhi Union Capital government to remove churches from a list of tax-exempt religious places because sacramental wine is served there. Vajpayee stated that the proposal was wrong and said that the Government was committed to preserving full religious freedom. The proposal subsequently was dropped.

In October the Union Human Resource Development Minister floated a plan to "Indianize and spiritualize" public school curriculums at all levels and to make the study of Sanskrit compulsory from grade 3 through grade 10. The plan also contemplated the teaching of Hindu texts from the Vedas and Upanishads in secondary school. The plan was withdrawn after protests from educators, most of the country's state Education Ministers, and many members of the public.


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Source: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1998, U.S. Department of State.

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