India has been placed on a watch list of countries where religious freedom is at risk by a US panel warning of a “disturbing increase” in violence against minorities in the country.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which is an independent congressionally mandated panel, stated on Wednesday that India's response to attacks on Christians in the eastern state of Orissa in 2008 and against Muslims in western Gujarat state in 2002 was “inadequate”.
Last year there were violent attacks by Hindu militants against Christians which left at least 40 dead, with thousands homeless and dozens of churches destroyed.
In 2002 Hindu extremists also attacked Muslims in an extended set of attacks, which saw some of the worst religious violence since India’s independence from Britain in 1947.
The other countries currently on the list are Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, Laos, the Russian Federation, Somalia, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Venezuela.
