India denounced a US State Department report that cited alleged incidents of human rights violations, including those in Manipur, as "deeply biased". India stated that the report demonstrates a poor understanding of the country and attached no value to it. The annual report highlighted instances of human rights abuses in Manipur following the outbreak of conflict.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal criticised the report, stating, "This report demonstrates a deep bias and reveals a lack of understanding of India."

At his weekly media briefing, he urged disregarding the report and stated, "We do not attribute any value to it and encourage others to do the same."

The report also highlighted raids conducted by Indian tax authorities on the office of the BBC. In the India section, it stated that local human rights organisations, minority political parties, and affected communities criticised the government for its delayed response in addressing violence and providing humanitarian aid in Manipur.

The report cited numerous instances of press and civil society reports indicating that representatives of political parties employed disinformation tactics against civil society organisations, religious minorities such as Sikhs and Muslims, and the political opposition. In some cases, they depicted these groups as security threats.

The report highlighted the tax raids on BBC offices, noting that while tax authorities justified the searches by citing irregularities in the BBC's tax payments and ownership structure, officials also conducted searches and confiscated equipment from journalists who were not involved in the organisation's financial operations.

The State Department accused the government of using emergency powers to prohibit the screening of a documentary and compelling media companies to remove links to the video. Additionally, it alleged that student protesters who organised viewing parties were detained. The documentary in question focused on the 2002 Gujarat riots and was banned from being screened in India.

Underscoring the need to balance freedom of expression and public safety amid rising pro-Palestinian protests in Universities across the United States which led to the arrest of 100 people at two universities in California and Texas, MEA spokesperson said, “We are all judged by what we do at home and not what we say abroad.” He also added, ”We have seen reports on the matter and have been following related events. In every democracy, there has to be the right balance between freedom of expression, sense of responsibility and public safety and order,” Jaiswal said in response to a question posed during the press briefing.

“Democracies in particular should display this understanding in regard to other fellow democracies. After all, we are all judged by what we do at home and not what we say abroad,” he added. As per fresh reports, owing to a surge in demonstrations at the University of Southern California’s (USC) Los Angeles campus, 93 people were arrested for trespassing, and 34 people were arrested for protests at the University of Texas (UT) in Austin.

Image source: The Hindu