Modi govt rebukes Freedom House report calling India ‘partly free’, pushes blame on states By Usama Hazari| Updated: 17th March 2021 2:11 pm IST MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava Hyderabad: The central government on Friday released a rebuttal following an international report marking India as a ‘partly free’ country. The Centre called the report “misleading, incorrect and misplaced” and offered a clarification to all the points raised against India. “India’s status declined from ‘Free’ to ‘Partly Free’ due to a multiyear pattern in which the Hindu nationalist government and its allies have presided over rising violence and discriminatory policies affecting the Muslim population and pursued a crackdown on expressions of dissent by the media, academics, civil society groups, and protesters,” the Freedom House report said on India’s status change to ‘partly free’.