NEW DELHI — The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has described former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) scholar Sharjeel Imam as a “Muslim man detained in India for his religious freedom advocacy” in a post shared on its official X account.
The move drew a sharp response from Indian Ambassador to the United States Vinay Mohan Kwatra.
In its post, the US government-backed advisory body shared Imam’s profile and highlighted his detention in India, framing his case in the context of religious freedom.
Imam, a former JNU scholar, has been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in connection with the alleged February 2020 Delhi riots. Investigators have accused him of being among the alleged masterminds behind the violence, which left 53 people dead and more than 700 injured.
The violence broke out in February 2020 amid protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019, and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Responding to USCIRF’s post on Friday, November 13, Kwatra questioned the commission’s assessment and accused it of making partisan observations about India’s religious freedom record.
“USCIRF has no locus standi to sit in judgment over the constitutional rights of Indian citizens,” he said.
He further described the commission’s assessments as “habitual partisan, ill-informed, and jaundiced”, arguing that they could not undermine India’s constitutional commitment to religious freedom and equal rights for people of all faiths.
Established in 1998 under the International Religious Freedom Act, USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan US federal government commission that monitors religious freedom conditions across the world and makes recommendations to the US government. Its recommendations are non-binding on the US State Department.
