New Delhi, India - The US International Religious Freedom Report, 2006 says the Indian Government sometimes did not act “swiftly enough” to counter “societal attack against the religious minorities.”
The report besides saying “Hindutva continued to influence governmental policies and societal attitudes in some regions and at local levels”, also points out the instances of “no formal punishment being handed down” to Congress leaders Jagdish Tytler and
Sajjan Kumar after being indicted for “purportedly leading the rioters”.
The Department of State in compliance with Section 102(b) of the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998 submitted the report to the US Congress, which was released on September 15.
With regard to the incidents of attacks on religious minorities, the report says: “Despite government efforts to foster communal harmony, some extremists continued to view ineffective investigation and prosecution of attacks on religious minorities, particularly at the local and state level, as a signal that they could commit such violence with impunity, although numerous cases were at courts”.
Despite the UPA government’s rejection of Hindutva, the report says, it continued to influence the governmental policies and societal attitudes in some regions at the state and local levels. However, the report adds: “Hindutva-based policies could not be implemented without passing the court review to determine whether they were inconsistent with country’s secular Constitution.”
The report, released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, says the Nanawati Commission report cities “several prominent Congress leaders for complicity in violence. Minister Jagdish Tytler and member of Parliament Sajjan Kumar were indicted in the report for purportedly leading the rioters. The report then adds that though Tytler resigned from the post of minister and Kumar from the Delhi Development Board, “no punishment were handed down”.
The report also speaks about the discrimination based on caste. “Although discrimination based on caste is illegal, it remained ubiquitous, stratifying every segment of society. Many members of the lower castes were relegated to the most menial jobs and had little social mobility, though a segment of lower castes had achieved success in many fields of endeavour.”
Although the courts and the government on various occasions have upheld secular values it hasn’t created enough fear among the terrorists who manage to get away with heinous crimes due to loopholes in the legal systems.
“Terrorists attempted to provoke religious conflict by attacking Hindu temples in
Ayodhya and Varanasi. The government reacted in a swift manner to rein in Hindu extremists, prevent revenge attacks and reprisal, and assure the Muslim community of its safety. The government also quelled religious violence in Vadodara, Gujarat, after protests over the demolition of a Muslim shrine threatened to spark Hindu-Muslim violence,” the report lauded.