The Constitution provides for secular government and the protection of religious freedom, and the central Government generally respected these provisions in practice; however, it sometimes did not act effectively to counter societal attacks against religious minorities and attempts by state and local governments to limit religious freedom. This failure resulted in part from the legal constraints inherent in the country's federal structure, and in part from shortcomings in the law enforcement and justice systems. Ineffective investigation and prosecution of attacks on religious minorities were seen by some extremists as a signal that such violence may be committed with impunity.

The status of religious freedom improved in a number of ways during the period covered by this report yet problems remained in some areas. While the government took some steps to decrease attacks and bring about justice, attacks against minorities persisted. However, there were no new anti-conversion laws during the period covered by this report and Tamil Nadu announced its decision to repeal its anti-conversion law. During the period covered by this report, the Gujarat police conducted no illegal surveys of Christians and no tridents (trishuls) were distributed in any state. "Hindutva," the politicized inculcation of Hindu religious and cultural norms to the exclusion of other religious norms, influenced governmental policies and societal attitudes.

During most of the period covered by this report, the central Government was led by a coalition called the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The leading party in the coalition was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a Hindu nationalist party with links to Hindu extremist groups that have been implicated in violent acts against Christians and Muslims. Human rights groups and others also suggested that the Government’s inadequate response to acts of violence against religious minorities was due at least in part to links between extremist groups and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during much of the period covered by this report. The BJP was also head of state governments in Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh. The BJP-led government, which previously campaigned on a Hindutva platform, adopted more inclusive rhetoric regarding minorities and took some steps to decrease violence.

In late May, a new coalition, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), came to power and pledged to "take immediate steps to reverse the trend of communalization of education," which it said had occurred when the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) governed India. Although the new UPA government retained the new NCERT books introduced by the NDA government for this academic year, they are currently being revised and new texts, with corrected information, will be introduced in the next academic year.

In May President APJ Abdul Kalam invited Dr. Manmohan Singh, a member of Congress Party, to form a coalition government led by the UPA to replace the NDA, which had been in power since 1998. The UPA pledged to respect the country's traditions of secular government and religious tolerance, and to pay particular attention to the rights of religious minorities.

Dr. Singh, a Sikh, became the first member of a religious minority to be prime minister. As President Kalam is a Muslim and the President of the governing Congress party (Sonia Gandhi) is a Christian, three of the most important politicians in India are members of religious minority communities.

Tensions between Muslims and Hindus, and to a continued extent between Christians and Hindus, were a problem. Attacks on religious minorities occurred in several states, which brought into question the Government's ability to prevent sectarian and religious violence. However, some improvements were observed during the period covered by this report. In April the Supreme Court handed down a major decision ordering a retrial of the Best Bakery Case, in which Hindu extremists killed14 Muslims when the Best Bakery, in the Hanuman Tekri area of Vadodara, was attacked by a large mob. There have been allegations that police failed to take adequate action to save the victims during the attack. The Supreme Court also stated that the guilty were likely to escape prosecution as long as the case was tried in the state of Gujarat, and, therefore, ordered that the trials be moved to the jurisdiction of the Bombay (Mumbai) High Court. In November 2003, the Kheda District Sessions Court in Gujarat sentenced 12 persons to life imprisonment for the murder of 14 Muslims in Ghodasar village. Three persons were sentenced to 2 years rigorous imprisonment for unlawful assembly in the same case. This case was the first conviction in conjunction with the violence directed against Muslims by Hindus that took place in Gujarat in February and March 2002 and which left an estimated 2,000 dead and 100,000 displaced into refugee camps. At the end of the period covered by this report, only 3 other cases related to the Gujarat rioting completed trial in the lower level courts. Two cases resulted in acquittals and two in convictions. In the two acquittals (Best Bakery and Mod) the Hindu offenders were exonerated in June and July 2003; while in two other cases, lower courts ruled in November 2003 and January to convict and sentence 13 Hindu offenders (after the Supreme Court heard the Best Bakery case). It was alleged widely that the police and state government did little to stop the violence promptly, and at times encouraged or assisted Hindus involved in the riots. Despite substantial evidentiary material, the judicial commission responsible for investigating the riots reported inconclusive findings. There were reports of intimidation and harassment of witnesses; however, the NHRC and Supreme Court continued to press investigation of the Best Bakery case and the NHRC pressed for a retrial. While progress in the Gujarat justice process took place under the BJP-led government, the election of the UPA government encouraged human rights groups to demand further prosecution of the remaining perpetrators of the Gujarat riots. Violence and discrimination against Muslims and Christians continued in other parts of the country. To date there have been no prosecutions of any of those responsible for religiously motivated killing and destruction in other parts of the country.

The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the Government in the context of its overall policy to promote human rights. The U.S. Embassy and its consulates continued to promote religious freedom through contact with the country's senior leadership, as well as with state and local officials. During meetings with important leaders of all of the significant minority communities, U.S. officials discussed reports of ongoing harassment of minority groups, converts, and missionaries. U.S. agencies provided funding for an NGO program designed to assist internally displaced persons in Gujarat following communal violence in the area in 2002; and U.S. officials continued to meet with officials and private citizens concerning the violence. U.S. officials also have continued to engage state officials on the implementation and reversal of anti-conversion laws.

Section I. Religious Demography

The country has a total area of approximately 1.3 million square miles and a population of slightly more than 1 billion. According to the latest government estimates, Hindus constitute 82 percent of the population, Muslims 12 percent, Christians 2.3 percent, Sikhs 2.0 percent, and others, including Buddhists, Jains, Parsis (Zoroastrians), Jews, and Baha'is, less than 2 percent. Hinduism has a large number of branches. Slightly more than 90 percent of Muslims are Sunni; the rest are Shi'a. Buddhists include followers of the Mahayana and Hinayana schools, and there are both Catholic and Protestant Christians. Tribal groups (members of indigenous groups historically outside the caste system), which in government statistics generally are included among Hindus, often practice traditional indigenous religions. Hindus and Muslims are spread throughout the country, although large Muslim populations are found in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala, and Muslims are a majority in Jammu and Kashmir. Christian concentrations are found in the northeastern states, as well as in the southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Goa. Three small northeastern states (Nagaland, Mizoram, and Meghalaya) have large Christian majorities. Sikhs are a majority in the state of Punjab.

Over the years, many lower caste Hindus, Dalits (formerly called "untouchables" see Section II), and other non-Hindu tribal groups have converted to other faiths to escape widespread discrimination and achieve higher social status. However, lower caste and Dalit converts continue to be viewed by both their coreligionists and by Hindus through the prism of caste. Converts are regarded widely as belonging to the caste of their ancestors, and caste identity, whether or not acknowledged by a person's own religion, has an effect on marriage prospects, social status, and economic opportunity. However, such converts often lose benefits conferred by the Government's affirmative action programs because these, according to the Constitution, are reserved only for those having scheduled caste status. There are anti-conversion laws for Dalits in the states of Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Arunachal Pradesh.

There are a number of immigrants, primarily from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, who practice various religions. Immigrants from Bangladesh usually reside near the border.

According to the Catholic Bishop's Conference of India, there are approximately 1,100 registered foreign missionaries in the country representing a variety of Christian denominations (see Section II).

Section II. Status of Religious Freedom

Legal/Policy Framework

The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the central Government generally respected this right in practice; however, some state and local governments only partially respected this freedom.

The country's political system is federal in character, according state governments exclusive jurisdiction over law enforcement and maintaining order, which has limited the central Government's capacity to deal with abuses of religious freedom. The country's national law enforcement agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), must receive a state government's permission before investigating a crime in that state. However, the federal government's law enforcement authorities, in some instances, have intervened to maintain order when state governments were reluctant or unwilling to intervene. In cases relating to the anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat, central agencies intervened in two instances.

In January at the direction of the Indian Supreme Court, the CBI began investigating the rape of Bilkis Rassol (which occurred in 2002) and the murder of her relatives. In May according to the Indian Supreme Court’s direction, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) assigned several of its officers to guard witnesses in four major post-riot cases in Ahmedabad and Anand districts.

There are no registration requirements for religious groups; however, missionaries of all religious minority groups are required to registerwith the local police station during their visits to the country.

There are a number of federal and state laws that regulate religious life in India. These include The Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), several state anti-conversion laws, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act, India's Foreigners Act, and the Indian Divorce Act.

The Government is empowered to ban a religious organization if it has provoked intercommunity friction, has been involved in terrorism or sedition, or has violated the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), which restricts funding from abroad. Christian organizations have complained that this prohibition prevents them from properly financing their humanitarian and educational activities in the country. Muslim and Hindu groups also have difficulty funding their activities under the act.

Anti-conversion laws have been in effect in Madhya Pradesh and Orissa since the 1960s, and laws against forcible conversions exist also in Andhra Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh. In 2002-03 the states of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat passed "anti-conversion" laws, and after facilitating the passage of the law in Tamil Nadu, the Chief Minister threatened to visit Kerala to press for a similar law there. Under both laws, those "forcing" or "alluring" individuals to convert are subject to criminal action. However, the Gujarat state government did not promulgate the rules and regulations necessary for implementation until May. As of the end of the period covered by this report, the law had not yet been used. In September 2003, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes proposed legislation to regulate forcible conversion. Under the proposed law, those wishing to convert to a new faith must request permission from a local government authority. A proposal to introduce a national anti-conversion law lapsed in 2002, and the new UPA Government has not promoted such a law. During the period covered by this report, no new anti-conversion laws were passed, and Tamil Nadu announced its decision to repeal the law; although it took no action in this regard during the period of this report.

The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act empowers the Government to ban a religious organization if it has provoked intercommunity friction, has been involved in terrorism or sedition, or has violated the 1976 FCRA, which restricts funding from abroad.

The Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act of 1988 makes it an offense to use any religious site for political purposes or to use temples for harboring persons accused or convicted of crimes. While specifically designed to deal with Sikh places of worship in Punjab, the law applies to all religious sites.

There is no national law that bars a citizen or foreigner from professing or propagating religious beliefs; however, speaking publicly against other beliefs is considered dangerous to public order and is prohibited by India's Foreigners Act. This act strictly prohibits visitors who are in the country on tourist visas from engaging in religious preaching without first obtaining permission from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Under the Indian Divorce Act of 1869, a Christian woman could demand divorce only in the case of spousal abuse and certain categories of adultery; for a Christian man, a wife's adultery alone was sufficient. However, in 2001 this law was amended by Parliament to allow Christian women to file for divorce for the same reasons as men. The Indian Divorce Act of 2001 places limitations on interfaith marriages and specifies penalties, such as 10 years' imprisonment, for clergymen who contravene its provisions. Under the act, no marriage in which one party is a non-Christian may be celebrated in a church. However, the Indian Divorce Act does not bar interfaith marriages in other places of worship.

Legally mandated benefits are assigned to certain groups, including some groups defined by their religion. For example, minority institutions can reserve seats for minorities in educationalinstitutions. Minority run institutions also are entitled to funding, although with restrictions, but benefits accorded Dalits are revoked if they convert to Christianity. However, if they convert to Buddhism, they do not lose the benefits.

There are many religions and a large variety of denominations, groups, and subgroups in the country, but Hinduism is the dominant religion. Under the Constitution, the Buddhist, Jain, and Sikh faiths are considered different from the Hindu religion, but the Constitution often is interpreted as defining Hinduism to include those faiths. This interpretation has been a contentious issue, particularly for the Sikh community that views itself as a unique religion and clearly distinct from Hinduism. In this regard, Sikhs have sought a separately codified body of law applying only to them.

The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) have appointed members and are tasked respectively with protecting the rights of minorities and protecting human rights. These governmental bodies investigate allegations of discrimination and bias and can make recommendations to the relevant local or central government authorities. These recommendations generally are followed, although they do not have the force of law. In August 2003, the NCM announced a plan to conduct a detailed study of the country’s Christian minority for the first time, and in March it urged all religious leaders not to issue any political "diktats" during the Parliamentary (Lok Sabha) elections. In September 2003, the NCM urged the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to intervene in the November 1984 anti-Sikh riots as it did in the Best Bakery Case of Gujarat. In the south, the state governments of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh also established minorities commissions. For example, the Karnataka State Minorities Commission recommended in 2003 that the state government increase the representation of minorities in the state police force to 20 percent. In 2003 the Karnataka Commission urged the Home Ministry to examine how communal tensions could be defused by prompt action based on intelligence reports.

The legal system accommodates minority religions' personal status laws; there are different personal status laws for different religious communities. Religion-specific laws pertain in matters of marriage, divorce, adoption, and inheritance. For example, Muslim personal status law governs many noncriminal matters involving Muslims, including family law, inheritance, and divorce. The BJP’s political platform advocates a uniform civil code that would treat members of all religions alike;however, minority groups oppose a Uniform Civil Code and prefer to retain personal status laws for their religious communities.

The Government permits private religious schools, which can offer religious instruction, but it does not permit religious instruction in government schools. Since most of the students in the majority of Christian schools are Hindu, the schools have long restricted religious instruction on Christianity only to those students who are Christian. During the period covered by this report, the Supreme Court ruled that the Government can prescribe qualifications for admission, based on merit, to colleges that receive public funding, but colleges that do not receive government assistance may admit students according to their own criteria. Many Hindu sects have established their own schools, and the RSS has an entire school system. Some Muslims believe that Muslim madrassahs, some of which receive government aid, would be subject to stringent security clearance requirements under the government's interpretation. Muslims objected to further attempts by BJP/Hindutva proponents to limit their freedom and ability to practice their religious beliefs.

During the NDA government, which ended in May, some senior government officials advocated "saffronizing," or raising the profile of Hindu cultural norms and views in public education, which has prompted criticism from minority leaders, opposition politicians, academics, and advocates of secular values. The Government's National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) publishes textbooks that are uniformly used in government and private schools and are printed in various languages.

In 2002 the BJP Government announced its decision to rewrite existing NCERT history textbooks, asserting that, "history needs to be presented in a more refreshing and cogent manner." Secularists warned that the re-written "history" spread misinformation to support Hindu nationalist political aims, including false claims that the origins of Hinduism are purely within the country, and Indian Muslims and Christians are "foreigners." The BJP’s decision was made without the input of the Central Advisory Board of Education, a panel of experts responsible for reviewing the quality of textbook and academic instruction. The board has not been convened in 5 years.

In January 2002,the National Human Rights Commission received a complaintasking the Commission to examine the printing of new history textbooks, which deleted references to Mahatma Gandhi's assassination in 1948 by a member of the Hindu Mahasabha, a Hindutva organization banned following the assassination. In May 2002, the education ministers of 16 states walked out of a conference to protest the Hindutva bias of the new curriculum, while 3 leading scholars filed a petition with the Supreme Court challenging the publication of the new textbooks. However, the petition was turned down, and the new textbooks appeared in November 2002. The imposition of examination boards reflecting the content of the new textbooks forced schools to use them.

The Congress-led government that came to power in May pledged to "de-saffronize" textbooks and curriculums nationwide and to restore the secular character of Indian education. In Delhi the Directorate of Education, in collaboration with the State Council of Educational Research and Training, prepared 47 new textbooks, stating they would be ready by June 30; other state governments are expected to do likewise. In June a panel constituted by NCERT reviewed these text books and recommended to the Human Resource Development (HRD) minister that they replace the current set, which the panel said had poor content, shoddy presentation, and significant amounts of irrelevant information. At the end of the period covered by this report, the HRD had not responded to the suggestion.

The Government maintains a list of banned books that may not be imported or sold in the country, including books such as Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses," which contain material that governmental censors have deemed inflammatory. On March 24, the Maharashtra state government banned the book "Shivaji: The Hindu King in Islamic India, " for allegedly making slanderous remarks against 17^th century Indian warrior Shivaji and his mother. The ban allegedly was supported by then Prime Minister Vajpayee. The Maharashtra state government also filed criminal charges against the book’s author, the U.S. professor James Laine. In December 2003, the West Bengal government banned Taslima Nasreen’s book "Split in Two" claiming that it could incite "enmity and communal disturbance" as proscribed under section 153A of the Indian Penal Code.

In August 2003, the Government asked documentary filmmakers to submit their films for pre-censorship prior to screening at the Mumbai International Film Festival. However, after extensive criticism and protest, the Government dropped the requirement, although certain films about the Gujarat violence ("Aakrosh" and "Final Solution") still were not shown. In response filmmakers held an independent and simultaneous festival in August 2003 to screen such films. In June, following an appeal to the Central Censor Board, the film "Aakrosh" received the censor certificate, which permits public screenings. However, in April the Indian censors refused a censor certificate to a commercial Hindi film called "Chand Buz Gaya", which has a character resembling the controversial Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. The story involves a Muslim girl and Hindu boy in love with each other, who are separated by Hindu-Muslim riots that occur after a train arson incident. The producer has appealed the censor decision, but the appeal had not been heard by the end of the period covered by this report.

Some major religious holidays celebrated by various groups are considered national holidays, including Christmas (Christian), Eid and the anniversary of the death of Mohammed (Muslim), Lord Buddha's birthday (Buddhist), Guru Nanak's Birthday (Sikh), Holi (Hindu), and the Birthday of Lord Mahavir (Jain). In July 2003, the BJP government in Goa proposed removing Good Friday and another Christian holiday from the list of official holidays. After widespread protests from Christians, the measure was withdrawn in July 2003, and there was no further attempt to remove such holidays from the official list. However, in April the BJP-ruled government of Gujarat regulated Good Friday, making it a restricted holiday and choosing to schedule Gujarat University examinations on that day. The Supreme Court of India ignored a petition from Christian organizations to overturn the decision to schedule a medical school entrance test on Easter Sunday.

Restrictions on Religious Freedom

The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act empowers the Government to ban a religious organization if it has provoked intercommunity friction, has been involved in terrorism or sedition, or has violated the 1976 FCRA, which restricts funding from abroad. Human Rights activists have criticized the Government for selectively applying the FCRA against religious minorities.

In 2001, the Government officially banned the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for "fomenting communal tension" and actions "prejudicial to India's security." The Government alleged that SIMI had links with terrorist groups such as the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and the Hizbul Mujahideen. The Unlawful Activities Tribunal upheld the ban against SIMI in a March ruling. In January 2003, police in three different states arrested eight of its members, including former president of the SIMI Bhopal district unit, Khalid Naeem. He was later released on bail without being charged; at the end of the period of this report, no further legal action had been taken.

In 2001, the Government officially banned the Muslim group Deendar Anjuman for "fomenting communal tension" and actions "prejudicial to India's security." In April 2003, the Government extended the ban on Deendar Anjuman for another 2 years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act of 1988 makes it an offense to use any religious site for political purposes or to use temples for harboring persons accused or convicted of crimes. While specifically designed to deal with Sikh places of worship in Punjab, the law applies to all religious sites.

Since 2000 Uttar Pradesh’s "Religious Buildings and Places Bill" requires a permit endorsed by the state government before construction of any religious building can begin. The bill's supporters stated that its aim was to curb the use of Muslim institutions by Islamic fundamentalist terrorist groups, but the measure remains a controversial political issue among religious groups in the northern part of the country.

Most religious groups from all of the communities oppose restrictions on building religious structures and continue to view them as infringements upon religious freedom.

Legislation in West Bengal requires any person who plans to construct a place of worship to seek permission from the district magistrate; anyone intending to convert a personal place of worship into a public one is also required to obtain the district magistrate's permission. SomeMuslim groups report that they have not received permission to build new mosques,for example, in West Bengal. In March 2003, the Hindu nationalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP),an offshoot of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), an organization that propagates a return to Hindu values and cultural norms, announced it would launch a nationwide campaign to "reclaim" 30,000 Hindu temples that it contends had been converted into mosques. The VHP’s published list of such mosques includes the Gyan Vapi mosque in Varanasi, the Idgah mosque in Mathura, and the Ram temple grounds at the former Babri Mosque in Ayodhya. On September 20, 2003, the Special CBI court dismissed charges against then Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, but not against seven other defendants accused of involvement in the destruction of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya in 1992;opposition parties charged that the dismissal was a political move.

The "trishul" or trident distribution program, which was popularized by the VHP during the last reporting period, has subsided. However, the symbolism of the three-pronged Hindu symbols, which were sometimes used as weapons, was discussed in a ceremony in Indore, Madhya Pradeshon
March 1. While 700 persons participated in the rally organized by the Hindu extremist group Bajrang Dal,no tridents were distributed. In April 2003, the Rajasthan state government banned the distribution of trishuls in the state, but clarified that the order would not affect the use of trishuls in religious places and functions. On April 13, 2003, VHP General Secretary Togadia distributed the trishuls in defiance of the ban and was arrested. On April 21, 2003,he was released on bail,and no charges have been filed. There were no further trishul distributions in Rajasthan state during the period covered by this report.

The BJP, which led two coalition national governments from 1998 until May, is one of a number of offshoots of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). Most BJP leaders, including former Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, also are RSS members. Members of the BJP, the RSS, and other affiliated organizations (collectively known as the Sangh Parivar) have been implicated in incidents of violence and discrimination against Christians and Muslims.

The BJP and RSS claim to respect and tolerate other religions; however, the RSS in particular opposes conversions from Hinduism and believes that all citizens regardless of their religious affiliation should adhere to Hindu cultural values. The BJP officially states that the caste system should be eradicated, but many of its members are ambivalent about this objective. The BJP political platform calls for the construction of a Hindu temple on the site of a mosque in Ayodhya destroyed by a Hindu mob in 1992; for the repeal of Article 370 of the Constitution, which grants special rights to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the country's only Muslim majority state; and for the enactment of a Uniform Civil Code that would apply to members of all religions.

The BJP did not include these RSS goals in the program of the coalition Government it led until May; however, some minority religious groups noted that the coming to power of the BJP coincided with an increase in complaints of discrimination against minority religious communities. These groups also claimed that BJP officials at state and local levels increasingly became unresponsive in investigating charges of religious discrimination and in prosecuting those persons responsible. Others note that during the election campaign, the BJP reached out to Muslims in swing districts and accentuated the Government’s peace initiative with Pakistan.

The degree to which the BJP's nationalist Hindu agenda affected the country with respect to religious minorities during its rule varies depending on the region. State governments continue to attach a high priority to maintaining law and order and monitoring intercommunity relations at the district level. As a result, the central Government often is not the most important player in determining the character of relationships of various religious communities between each other and with the state.

Anti-conversion laws have been in effect in Madhya Pradesh and Orissa since the 1960s, and laws against forcible conversions exist also in Andhra Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh. Chhattisgarh retained the anti-conversion law from Madhya Pradesh when it separated from that state. In 2002-03 the states of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat passed "anti-conversion" laws. Under both laws, those "forcing" or "alluring" individuals to convert are subject to criminal action. However, the Gujarat state government did not promulgate the rules and regulations necessary for implementation until May. As of the end of the period covered by this report, the law had not yet been used. During the period covered by this report, no new anti-conversion laws were passed. A proposal to introduce a national anti-conversion law lapsed in 2002,and the new UPA Government has not promoted such a law.

Since what constitutes forced conversions or allurement is not specified, human rights groups, Christian religious leaders, and Dalits have expressed concern that authorities will use these laws selectively in the future to shut down educational, medical, and other social services provided by Christian groups to Dalits and "tribals" (members of indigenous groups historically outside the caste system). However, the federal government can prevent states from taking action if there is a threat to national integrity and communal harmony, or if the law violates the basic spirit of the Constitution as written in its preamble.

The Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Forcible Conversion Act of October 2002 was initially declared by governor ordinance, which does not require approval by the state legislature. However, it was later ratified by the state legislature in December 2002. According to the act, those who attempt to convert individuals or groups from one religion to another using "false promises" and "allurements" are subject to prosecution, and all persons who "[take] part directly or indirectly in [a conversion] ceremony" must report the ceremony to the District Magistrate. Mandated punishments are greater for converting women, scheduled castes, and "tribals." As of the end of the period covered by this report, a petition questioning the constitutional validity of the act was under review by the state's high court. An ordinance repealing the law, issued on May 18, stopped its operation; however, the state legislature must approve the ordinance to turn the repeal into an act within 6 months from the date of issue, or the law will again come into effect. The Tamil Nadu legislative assembly has yet to give its formal approval for the repeal. As of May, no cases had been filed under the law, and following the poor performance of the governing party in the state in national parliamentary elections, the Chief Minister announced in Mayher intention to repeal the act;however, there had been no action by the end of the period covered by this report.

In March 2003, the state assembly of Gujarat passed the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act. The act requires those involved with a conversion to seek the permission, both before and after the conversion ceremony, of the district collector, who is the sole arbiter of the validity of each conversion. This act also requires the police to investigate cases of forced or induced religious conversions. As with the Tamil Nadu anti-conversion law, punishments are greater for women, scheduled castes, and "tribals." In April 2003, one Christian and one Buddhist organization filed a case in Ahmedabad High Court against the act; the court dismissed the petition as premature, since the rules and regulations for the act had not yet been published. The rules stillhad not been published by the end of the period covered by this report. In April 2003, a contingent of Dalits asked permission of the Vadodara Collector to convert to Buddhism under the new act; the collector had not given permission by the end of the period covered by this report. At the end of the period covered by this report, the law could not be implemented because the rules and regulations had not been drafted. State officials made no attempts to implement it in the absence of formal regulations.

In Punjab the Union Minister and General Secretary called for the state government to pass a law completely banning religious conversions. The move followed reports of large-scale conversions of Sikh Dalits. During the period covered by this report, the General Secretary took no further action.

In Chhattisgarh an anti-conversion law has been in force since the 1970s (at which time Chhattisgarh was a part of Madhya Pradesh). On July 18, 2003, in the first conviction under the law, Sister Brishi Ekka was sentenced to 6 months in jail for not reporting the 1996 conversion of 95 families to Christianity. Sister Ekka appealed the decision in the Chhattisgarh High Court, and later she was released on bail. During the period covered by this report, the high court had still not heard the case, and Sister Ekka remained free on bail.

In 2000, the Orissa government notified churches that religious conversions could not occur without the permission of the local police and district magistrate. Although the rule does not appear to have been enforced during the period covered by this report, it has not been withdrawn.

The Orissa Freedom of Religion Act of 1967 contains a provision requiring a monthly report from the state on the number of conversions. Before a conversion takes place, the district magistrate must be informed and the local police officer will conduct an inquiry. The report is then forwarded to the state authorities. The police officer can recommend in favor of or against the intended conversion, and often is the sole arbitrator. There were no reports that the district magistrate denied permission for any conversions during the period covered by this report.

In the south, religious groups allege that under the BJP government, some local officials enforced laws selectively to the detriment of religious minorities. The groups cite numerous examples of discrimination, such as biased interpretations of postal regulations, including removal of postal subsidies; refusals to allocate land for the building of churches; and heightened scrutiny of NGOs to ensure that foreign contributions are made according to the law.

The Gujarat State Higher Secondary Board, to which nearly 98 percent of schools in Gujarat belong, requires the use of certain textbooks in which Nazism is condoned. In the Standard 10 social studies textbook, the "charismatic personality" of "Hitler the Supremo" and the "achievements of Nazism" are described at length. The textbook does not acknowledge Nazi extermination policies or concentration camps except for a passing reference to "a policy of opposition towards the Jewish people and [advocacy for] the supremacy of the German race." The Standard 9 social studies textbook implies that Muslims, Christians, Parsees, and Jews are "foreigners."

On May 24, a Tamil Nadu Government unilateral order issued by the Registrar of the Dr. M.G.R. Medical University to the leading Christian missionary hospital in South Asia, Christian Medical College (CMC) of Vellore, directed the CMC to accept government-sponsored candidates into 40 percent of its school seats, in violation of the constitutional Special Minority Status guarantees given to unaided institutions. The Supreme Court directed the Government of Tamil Nadu on August 14, 2003,to form a committee to look into the question of admissions procedures followed by minority education institutions. In the interim, The Supreme Court permitted the CMC to follow the admissions policy that it followed in the past, until the committee provided recommendations. The Tamil Nadu Government constituted a committee on March 19, which currently is debating the issue. The Tamil Nadu state government also has worked actively to strengthen Hindu institutions. For example, in March 2002, the Government initiated renovation of 200 Hindu temples throughout the state and sponsored spiritual classes in 63 shrines. Such state sponsorship was not available to other religious groups; however, in May Chief Minister Jayalalitha announced her intention to halt all such support.

Other southern states, which have had a history of support for their religious minorities, continued to demonstrate evidence of support for the Hindutva message. In addition to Tamil Nadu's anti-conversion laws, inclusion of BJP membership in Andhra Pradesh's ruling coalition, Karnataka's complacency in investigating crimes of religious violence, "antiminority" remarks of Kerala's Chief Minister Antony, and five instances of communal violence in Kerala since January 2002 signaled a growing acquiescence to the Hindutva agenda. In Karnataka Christian leaders recorded 50 incidents in 2002-03, ranging from destruction of church properties to physical abuse of ministers and converts, reportedly perpetrated by members of the Sangh Parivar. Although reported to the police, none of the incidents were investigated. State authorities did not deny that violence had occurred, but claimed these incidents did not represent any organized effort to deter evangelists.

The Sangh Parivar’s attemptsover the past decade to take control of the Sufi syncretic (Hindu-Muslim) shrine known as Guru Dattatreya Baba Budan Swami Dargah at Chikmagalur in Karnataka continued to raise protests from secular groups. The centuries old dargah is believed to have been one of the earliest centers of Sufism in the southern part of the country. In recent years, Hindus have held many festivals at the site, which have alienated the local Muslim community.

Despite concerns expressed by religious minorities in the northern area of the country following attacks on them in Gujarat and Orissa, there were only a few isolated incidents of communal violence in this region during the period covered by this report (see Section III). The appeal of Hindu nationalism appeared to decrease in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP-led state government was defeated in elections in early 2002, and replaced by a secular regional party.

In June 2002, the NHRC investigated the Gujarat February to May 2002 violence and concluded that the attacks, "were a comprehensive failure on the part of the state government to control the persistent violation of rights of life, liberty, equality, and dignity of the people of the state." During the May to June 2003 trial of 21 Hindus accused of burning 12 Muslims and 2 Hindu workers alive in the Best Bakery, 41 of the 73 witnesses recanted their stories. On June 18, 2003, the 21 defendants were acquitted. The key eyewitness, Zahira Sheikh, a 19-year-old woman, claimed in July 2003, during a press conference in Mumbai, that she had testified falsely after BJP leaders repeatedly threatened her family. The NHRC dispatched its team to study the Best Bakery judgment in July 2003 and filed a petition for retrial outside Gujarat in the Supreme Court in August 2003. Subsequently, on April 12, the Supreme Court ordered a new investigation and trial outside of Gujarat in the Best Bakery case, following the state government’s submission of an affidavit to the Supreme Court on January 28.

In other cases, the police reportedly downgraded charges against Hindu defendants, filed false charges to cover up their own role in the violence, deleted the names of the accused, and failed to pursue rape cases. According to the Government of Gujarat’s January 28 affidavit to the Supreme Court, 2,108 of the 4,256 cases registered in connection with the post-Godhra train burning violence have been filed as a "summary report," which means that the crime happened, but remains undeclared. In 2,130 cases, police have filed charges. The Government of Gujarat claimed in its affidavit to the Supreme Court that police have launched prosecutions against 5,384 persons in Ahmedabad city and 24,683 persons in the state as a whole, for cases related to the 2002 riots.

At the end of the period covered by this report, only 4 of these 2,130 cases completed trial in the lower level courts: the Best Bakery and 3 others. Two cases resulted in acquittals and two in convictions. In the two acquittals (Best Bakery and Mod) the Hindu offenders were exonerated in June and July 2003; while in two other cases, lower courts ruled in November 2003 and January to convict and sentence 13 Hindu offenders (after the Supreme Court’s heard the Best Bakery case).

All of these cases are likely to be appealed to the Gujarat High Court and later to the Supreme Court. Final judgments may not be available for several years, and human rights activists and minority groups are skeptical that those guilty of the post-Godhra violence will be punished appropriately.

In March 2003, Gujarat BJP leader and former state Home Minister Haren Pandya was killed. In September 2003, Ahmedabad police charged approximately 80 Muslims including a local Muslim cleric with the murder. The case is scheduled for hearing in a Gujarat fast track POTA court in August. Police have not been able to locate 44 of the accused.

From February through May 2003, the Gujarat state government aggressively surveyed Christian families and agencies. The survey included questions about the number of converts in the household or parish, the circumstances of conversion, and the sources of funding received from abroad. The surveys were carried out by police, often in the middle of the night, although the Gujarat High Court ruled in March 2003 that the survey was illegal. The surveys reportedly ceased during the period covered by this report.

On October 21, 2003, the Gujarat Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Karsan Patel, instructed 400 Dang tribal children, who were boarders at a Christian school in Subir run by the Navjyot Social Service Society, "to decide whether they want to live as Hindus or die as Christians." Patel made this statement at the "Ram Kartha" convention in Subir, which was attended by over 15,000 devotees of Ram, a popular incarnation of a Hindu god. Hindus were asked to reclaim the territory of their god in pamphlets circulated by the VHP at the convention.

There is no national law that bars a citizen or foreigner from professing or propagating his or her religious beliefs; however, speaking publicly against other beliefs is considered dangerous to public order and is prohibited by India's Foreigners Act. This act strictly prohibits visitors who are in the country on tourist visas from engaging in religious preaching without first obtaining permission from the Ministry of Home Affairs. Given this context, the Government discourages foreign missionaries from entering the country and has a policy of expelling foreigners who perform missionary work without the correct visa.

Long-established foreign missionaries generally can renew their visas, but since the mid-1960s, the government has refused to admit new resident foreign missionaries. During the period covered by this report, there were press reports documenting the activities of Christian missionaries who entered the country on tourist visas and illegally proselytized. This activity led to a public outcry and calls for the government to enforce existing laws more rigidly. U.S. citizens accused of religious preaching while visiting India as tourists have faced difficulties obtaining permission to return to the country for up to a decade after the event.

During the period covered by this report, no foreign missionaries were attacked. However, in April Father Jim Borst, a priest at the Mill Hill Mission in Srinagar, who had worked in India since 1963, was given a "Leave India Notice" from the Foreigner’s Registration Office in Kashmir. Borst had served as the principal of St. Joseph’s school in Baramulla and Burn Hall School in Srinagar throughout most of that time and engaged in other educational activities. The local authorities notified him that his visa would not be renewed, but did not offer any explanation; some Christian groups concluded the action was religiously motivated harassment. However, Borst remained in Srinagar during the period covered by this report, and his visa renewal request was still being processed.

In January 2003, a group of militant Hindus attacked U.S. missionary Joseph Cooper in Kerala. The police arrested nine suspects in the case; however, as of the end of the period covered by this report, charges had not been filed. The suspects were released after a few days of imprisonment; their leader and principal suspect in the case was not arrested, and the police claimed that he had left their jurisdiction. The state police ordered Joseph Cooper to leave the country in January 2003, on the day he was discharged from the hospital, reportedlybecause his tourist visa was incompatible with his missionary work. The Human Rights groups CHRO and Peoples Watch of Tamil Nadu in a joint fact-finding report on January 30, 2003, quoted then Minister of State for Home AffairsCh. Vidya Sagar Rao, as saying that, "the action taken by the Kerala Police asking Cooper to leave the country within a week would send the right signal." The report, in its findings, also quoted then-Minister of State for Urban Development, O. Rajagopal, as saying, "missionaries were making despicable remarks about Hindu deities," and, "the people will be forced to react if such actions go unchecked."

On June 30, 2003, Gujarat police detained for questioning nine foreigners (eight Saudis and one Sudanese) for misusing their visas by preaching Islam in Gujarat. All were released without charge after a day in custody; reportedly they were in the country on tourist visas. There were no reports during the period covered by this report of Islamic preachers being detained.

Several Christian relief organizations also have been hampered by bureaucratic obstacles in getting visas renewed for foreign relief work. Missionaries and foreign religious organizations must comply with the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, which limits overseas assistance to certain NGOs, including religiously affiliated groups.

The personal status laws of the religious communities sometimes discriminate against women. Under Islamic law, a Muslim husband may divorce his wife spontaneously and unilaterally; there is no such provision for women. However, the Mumbai High Court ruled in 2002 that divorces of Muslim couples must be proven in court. Previously, a Muslim male's assertion of a divorce was sufficient. Islamic law also allows a man to have up to four wives but prohibits polyandry. Under the Indian Divorce Act of 1869, a Christian woman could demand divorce only in the case of spousal abuse and certain categories of adultery; for a Christian man, a wife's adultery alone was sufficient. However, in 2001 this law was amended by Parliament to allow Christian women to file for divorce for the same reasons as men.

The Indian Divorce Act of 2001 places limitations on interfaith marriages and specifies penalties, such as 10 years' imprisonment, for clergymen who contravene its provisions. Under the act, no marriage in which one party is a non-Christian may be celebrated in a church. However, the Indian Divorce Act does not bar interfaith marriages in other places of worship.

Abuses of Religious Freedom

While the central Government has not been implicated in abuses of religious freedom, human rights activists have criticized the Government for indifference and inaction in the face of abuses committed by state and local authorities, as well as private citizens.

Weak enforcement of laws protecting religious freedom partly is due to an over-burdened and corrupt judiciary. The legal system has many years of backlog, and all but the most prominent cases move slowly. Official failure to deal adequately with intra-group and intergroup conflict and with local disturbances in some places has abridged the right to religious freedom. A federal political system in which state governments hold jurisdiction over law and order contributed to the government's ineffectiveness in combating religiously based violence. The country's only national law enforcement agency, the CBI, is required to ask state government permission before investigating a crime in the affected state. States often delay or refuse to grant such permission.

During the period covered by this report, no foreign missionaries were attacked. However, in April Father Jim Borst, a priest at the Mill Hill Mission in Srinagar, who had worked in India since 1963, was given a "Leave India Notice" from the Foreigner’s Registration Office in Kashmir. In January 2003, a group of militant Hindus attacked American missionary Joseph Cooper in Kerala and in September 2002, youth members of the Bajrang Dal Party attacked South Koreans suspected of performing missionary work in Orissa.

The eastern part of the country presented a varied picture with regard to religious freedom during the period covered by this report. Sporadic attacks continued but were not concentrated in one geographical area. In Orissa, which has been known for violence against religious minorities (particularly after the killings of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young children in 1999), the communal situation remained relatively unchanged during the period covered by this report, despite the installation of a BJP-Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government which assumed power in 2000 and was re-elected this year. On September 9, 2003, a Hindu mob attacked construction workers building a church and looted construction material in Sudusudia village, Mayurbhanj district. Following a local inquiry, the magistrate found the construction to be illegal because it was purportedly on agricultural land. No official action was taken against those who destroyed the structure and stole material, and no arrests were made.

On December 6, 2003, a peaceful Muslim protest in Hyderabad on the eve of the anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid turned violent when the group encountered a Hindu mob celebrating the mosque’s destruction. Two Hindus were stabbed to death; police arrested approximately 35 persons from both communities, but charges had not been laid at the end of the period covered by this report.

In 2003the Minorities Commission of the Delhi stateissued its annual report that claimed that the Christian community had become the target of a sustained misinformation and intimidation campaign. In the Balmikinagar jungles bordering Nepal, police and the RSS have accused missionaries and Oraon tribal Christians of having "links" with the Maoist Communist Center (MCC), an insurgent group on the State Department’s "Other Terrorist Organizations" list, and as a result, priests have been detained and asked to leave the area. The commission also reported that adequate space for Christian worship and burial of the dead was not provided by the Government. The commission did not issue a report during the period covered by this report.

In 2002, after Hindu-Muslim riots in Gujarat, Muslims and human rights activists alleged that the state reserve police sided with the attackers rather than with the victims (see Section III). Human rights activists reported that the Gujarat police received specific instructions not to take action to prevent a possible violent reaction to the February 2002, attack by Muslims on a train in Godhra carrying Hindus (see Section III). In some instances of Hindu aggression against Muslims, police and government officials abetted the violence, and at times security forces were responsible for abuses. Police sometimes assisted Hindu fundamentalists in committing violent acts.

The press and human rights activists have reported widely that police refused to come to the aid of Muslim victims, and in some cases even participated in attacks on Muslims and Muslim-owned businesses. Following the 2002 attack on the train in Godhra, the police reportedly told Muslim victims, "We don't have orders to help you." It was reported that assailants frequently chanted, "the police are with us."

In 2002, the National Election Commission banned all religious processions in the state of Gujarat in connection with the December 12 election. The BJP party with its Hindutva brand of politics won the Gujarat election in a landslide with 126 of 181 assembly seats, winning those constituencies in the central part of the state that were most affected by the rioting. There were minor Hindu-Muslim skirmishes in Gujarat in Vadodara (September 2003 and February), Viramgam (November 2003), Ahmedabad (November 2003 and January), and Godhra (September 2003 and February). Seven persons (three Hindus and four Muslims) were killed in these skirmishes, but none died from police action. Fewer than 100 persons were injured in stone-throwing or stabbing incidents. The annual Hindu religious processions of Rath Yatra and the Muslim Tajia processions occurred peacefully in Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, and Vadodara, during the period covered by this report. Furthermore, in March police in Gujarat detained at least 400 persons to prevent Hindu-Muslim clashes during a Muslim day of mourning; the same month, Muslims called off an annual religious march in the volatile town of Baroda to prevent potential clashes with Hindus during Muharram. In October 2003, police arrested the leader of a hardline Hindu group along with thousands of activists planning to hold a rally at the disputed religious site of Ayodhya.

In 2002, the Gujarat state Government appointed a retired Supreme Court Justice, G. T. Nanavati, to oversee a two-member judicial commission to investigate the February 2002 riots. The commission held hearings in various riot-affected districts of the state between May and November 2003; in May 2003, management of its investigation was criticized strongly by media and human rights activists as inadequate. In advance of a final report, Nanavati reportedly told media there was no evidence of police complicity; however, the commission reportedly received more candid testimony from victims. As of the end of the period covered by this report, the commission had not submitted its report. During the period covered by this report, the commission continued taking depositions in affected districts and cities of Gujarat. Victims in Ahmedabad testified before the commission without apparent constraint. The commission also warned the police during its hearings in September 2003 not to influence or terrorize the victims. Nevertheless, victims complained of covert pressure from Hindu rightist groups not to testify to the commission.

In its 2002 report on Gujarat, the NHRC held the Gujarat government responsible for the riots and accused it of "a complicity that was tacit if not explicit." It concluded that "there is no doubt, in the opinion of this Commission, that there was a comprehensive failure on the part of the state government to control the persistent violation of rights of life, liberty, equality, and dignity of the people of the state." The report recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the communal riots, which the state government refused to allow. The Government of Gujarat never requested a Central Bureau of Investigation Inquiry; it formed the Nanavati Commission instead.

A Home Ministry report, released in April 2003, stated that 23,777 persons, predominantly Hindus, were arrested and charged in 2,014 cases in connection with the Gujarat violence. None were charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). Although many of the incidents of violence during the riots were witnessed by scores of observers, and some of them were televised, by the end of the period covered by this report the state government had yet to secure a conviction of an accused Hindu.

However, 124 of the 126 persons arrested for the Godhra train arson, predominantly Muslims, were charged under the POTA, which allows for detention without charge for 6 months, summary trials, and the use of testimony exacted under duress. In May the UPA government announced its intention to repeal the POTA law; however, at the end of the period covered by this report, there had been no action in this regard. None of those arrested or charged under the POTA had been tried.

Human rights activists cited widespread intimidation of witnesses and judges, negligence by police, and shoddy prosecution by state authorities. Many Gujaratis reportedly were afraid of cooperating with the justice process.

During the period covered by this report, 2 lower courts in Gujarat convicted 13 Hindus in connection with the 2002 anti-Muslim violence, ostensibly due to the Supreme Court decision in the Best Bakery case in which it ordered a new investigation and retrial outside of the state. During the period covered by this report, four post-Godhra cases completed trial at the lowest level. In June and July 2003, offenders were acquitted, and in November 2003 and January, offenders were sentenced to prison. Reportedly after the Supreme Court began its hearing of Best Bakery in September 2003, lower courts in Gujarat tried to be more conscientious in dealing with Hindu offenders. The Supreme Court ordered a retrial (but not reinvestigation) in the case of Best Bakery, and it had not ruled on 10 other cases at the end of the period covered by this report.

In 2002, following the riots in Gujarat, the National Election Commission banned all religious processions in the state in connection with the December 12 election. The BJP party with its Hindutva brand of politics won the Gujarat election in a landslide with 126 of 181 assembly seats, winning those constituencies in the central part of the state that were most affected by the rioting. There were minor Hindu-Muslim skirmishes in Gujarat in Vadodara (September 2003 and February), Viramgam (November 2003), Ahmedabad (November 2003 and January), and Godhra (September 2003 and February). Seven persons (three Hindus and four Muslims) were killed in these skirmishes, but none died from police action. Fewer than 100 persons were injured in stone-throwing or stabbing incidents. The annual Hindu religious processions of Rath Yatra and the Muslim Tajia processions occurred peacefully in Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, and Vadodara, during the period covered by this report.

Furthermore, in March police in Gujarat detained at least 400 persons to prevent Hindu-Muslim clashes during a Muslim day of mourning; the same month, Muslims called off an annual religious march in the volatile town of Baroda to prevent potential clashes with Hindus during Muharram. In October 2003, police arrested the leader of a hardline Hindu group along with thousands of activists planning to hold a rally at the disputed religious site of Ayodhya.

Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), the country's only Muslim majority state, has been the focus of repeated armed conflict between India and Pakistan and internal fighting between security forces and Muslim militants, who demand that the state be given independence or ceded to Pakistan. Particularly since an organized insurgency erupted in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989, there have been numerous reports of human rights abuses by security forces and local officials against the Muslim population, including execution-style killings, beatings, rapes, and other forms of physical abuse.

Government forces deny these allegations and assert that they target persons not on the basis of religion, but on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activity. For their part, terrorists killed and otherwise attacked hundreds of Hindu and Muslim civilians, including Kashmiri Muslims and Hindus, during the period covered by this report. In May militants kidnapped and then beheaded a 23 year-old Muslim in the Poonch area of J&K.

It is difficult to separate religion and politics in Kashmir; Kashmiri separatists predominantly are Muslim, and almost all the higher ranks as well as most of the lower ranks in the Indian forces stationed there are non-Muslims. On May 16, 2003, for the first time in 14 years, the J&K government allowed a procession of separatist groups to mark the anniversary of the birthday of the prophet Mohammed. The procession was held again in May.

In 2002, two unknown assailants captured Hindu and Sikh pilgrims at a Hindu temple in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. During security forces efforts to capture the assailants and free the captives, 30 persons were killed, including the attackers. Regional police officials have said that the case remains under investigation.

There were no reports of religious prisoners or