Persecution Outlook: India

Religious minorities in India are subject to severe discrimination from both the government and the public. In 2021, more than 300 anti-Christian incidents were reported, and in states throughout the country, strict anti-conversion laws require that any religious conversion be declared and authorized. (Last October, two sisters accused of illegal conversion were even dragged to the police by an angry mob.) Motivating the persecution is Hindutva, a nationalist ideology that does not consider religious minorities true Indians and insists on their expulsion from the country. And despite insistence to the contrary, this belief is condoned by the state.