South Asia

For another year running, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), in its 2026 Annual Report, has in strong recommendations, urged the US government to designate India as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), “for engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA)”

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), in its 2026 Annual Report, has apart from continuing to designate India as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), also recommended targeted sanctions against the RSS; this is a first.

From migrant workers and small vendors to university classrooms and electoral rolls, the architecture of suspicion –for the Indian Muslim--now stretches across everyday life

Move comes days before Supreme Court hearing in habeas corpus petition filed by his wife; Ladakh activist had been detained following September 2025 protests over statehood and Sixth Schedule protections

Summoning the district magistrate and SSP of Bareilly, the Allahabad High Court said any violence against the petitioner or his property would be presumed to have occurred at the instance of the State, as the case raises serious concerns over interference with religious prayers inside private property

Coalition, which also included CJP who is the lead petitioner on challenge to anti-conversion laws in SC, demands draft bill be made public, calls for consultations and legislative scrutiny; says existing criminal law already addresses coercion

Admitting to a spiral in communally driven hate crimes in eastern state of Odisha since June 2024 when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a majoritarian outfit came to power, Odisha’s chief minister, Charan Majhi said on Monday, March 9 that 54 such incidents and seven mob lynchings were recorded in that state; this was in a written reply to the State Assembly