India tells US panel to ‘stop lecturing others’ after remarks about Sharjeel Imam’s detention

The Indian ambassador to the United States on Saturday said that the US Commission on International Religious Freedom should introspect on its “prejudices” and “stop lecturing others”, after the panel shared a profile of jailed activist Sharjeel Imam on social media.

The panel stated on Friday that Imam is “a Muslim man detained in India for his religious freedom advocacy”.

Imam has been in prison for more than six years in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case, registered under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The trial in the case is yet to begin.

USCRIF has no locus standi to sit in judgment over the constitutional rights of Indian citizens.

Its habitual partisan, ill-informed, and jaundiced assessments cannot diminish India’s constitutional commitment to religious freedom and equal rights for all faiths.

India… https://t.co/ED2qqdkVuE— Amb Vinay Mohan Kwatra (@AmbVMKwatra) November 14, 2026

“In January 2020, authorities arrested Imam, a Muslim student activist, for participating in peaceful protests opposing the religious discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act in December 2019 and January 2020,” the panel said in its profile.

Responding to this, Indian Ambassador Vinay Mohan Kwatra said that the panel has no authority “to sit in judgement over the constitutional rights of Indian citizens”.

The panel’s “habitual partisan, ill-informed, and jaundiced assessments cannot diminish India’s constitutional commitment to religious...

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