India significant human rights breaches in 2022, says US report
The annual United States report on human rights practices released on Monday listed 'significant human rights issues' and abuses in India, including reported targeting of religious minorities, dissidents and journalists, the US State Department said.
The findings come nearly a year after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States was monitoring what he described as a rise in human rights abuses in India by some government, police and prison officials, in a rare direct rebuke by Washington of the Asian nation's rights record.
United States criticism of India is rare due to close economic relation between the countries and India's increasing importance for Washington to counter China in the region.
Significant human rights issues in India have included credible reports of the government or its agents conducting extrajudicial killings; torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by police and prison officials; political prisoners or detainees; and unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists, the US report added.
Advocacy groups have raised concerns over what they see as a deteriorating human rights situation in India in recent years under the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party of Premier Narendra Modi.
Human Rights Watch has said the Modi government's policies and actions target Muslims while critics of Narendra Modi say his Hindu nationalist ruling party has fostered religious polarization since coming to power in 2014.
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