India rejects UN body's critique on rights violations

India on Wednesday trashed a report by a UN body that alleged discrimination against various ethnic and religious groups in the country.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UNCERD) flagged concerns over human rights violations against people belonging to scheduled tribes, scheduled castes and Rohingya refugees.

It also called for action against those involved in “hate crime” in India.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India rejects “any politically motivated highly malicious references in the report with all the contempt that it deserves”.

He said India’s commitment to combating racial discrimination “remains unwavering”.

“During the review, we highlighted India’s constitutional safeguards, robust legal framework, pluralism and sustained efforts to protect disadvantaged communities,” he said.

“While we will respond to the committee’s observations through the established procedure, the inter-ministerial delegation, which was led by the Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta, had already rejected the sweeping generalisations, unsubstantiated allegations, or tendency to exceed the Convention’s mandate during the review meeting,” he said.

Jaiswal was responding to a question on the report.