US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States was monitoring what he described as a rise in “human rights abuses” in India by some officials, in a rare direct rebuke by Washington of New Delhi.

Mr Blinken did not elaborate. Mr Singh and Mr Jaishankar, who spoke after Blinken at the briefing, did not comment on the human rights issue.

“We regularly engage with our Indian partners on these shared values (of human rights) and to that end, we are monitoring some recent concerning developments in India including a rise in human rights abuses by some government, police and prison officials,” Mr Blinken said on Monday in a joint press briefing with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh.

“What does Modi need to do to India’s Muslim population before we will stop considering them a partner in peace?” Ms Omar, who belongs to President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party, said last week.

Mr Blinken’s remarks came days after US Representative Ilhan Omar questioned the alleged reluctance of the US government to criticize Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on human rights.