Attacks on Hindus and Hindu Dharma, both in Bharat and overseas, are frequent and unrelenting. In many regions of the world, this persecution is like a genocide slowly unfolding before our eyes. For decades, the world has ignored the actual depth and breadth of these attacks, driven by disturbing anti-Hindu bigotry. From murders, forced conversions, land grabs, assault on festivals, desecration of temples and murtis, hate speech, and sexual violence to institutionalized & legal discrimination, Hindus are facing an increasing assault on their very existence along with an unprecedented Hindu hatred.

In this weekly summary for the period from 11 September to 17 September 2022, we hope to provide a snapshot of such crimes and hopefully awaken more people around the world to this human rights crisis:

Bharat

1) A 26-year-old married father of two from Kozhikode named Fazil Bazil was arrested for grooming and kidnapping a 16-year-old girl, a secondary school student from Arnamula, close to Pathanamthitta, Kerala. Basil took her to numerous locations in Chennai and repeatedly sexually abused her.

2) Hindu hatred characterises the country’s secular administration as has been often seen in several incidents. The latest instance is of JK (Jammu Kashmir) Assistant Commissioner (Panchayat) Abdul Rashid Kohli abusing Hindu Dharma during an official lunch. As per reports, Panchyat Secretary Sanjeet Sharma complained to the Rajouri District Magistrate (DM) of abuse by Kohli as Sanjeet had ordered vegetarian food.

3) A pall of gloom has descended over the people of Thiruchendurai village in Tiruchirapalli district as the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board has reportedly claimed the entire village to be its property.

4) Hindu activists protested and expressed displeasure over tiles of deities installed near the staircase of the Community Health Centre in the Kabrai town of Mahoba district.

5) A 30-year-old woman has accused plumber Sadiq Mohammad of making her obscene video. The woman alleged that he then made it viral and even sent it to her husband. The incident took place in Punjab’s Kapurthala.

6) Sunil Kumar (23) was found dead and hanging from a tree on September 3 in Jiyangala village, Shishgarh police station area, Bareilly district of UP. Now, police have arrested 5 Muslim men, the relatives of a Muslim girl from the same village that Sunil was previously in a relationship with, for his murder.

7) Tamil Nadu idol wing police have commenced an investigation into the French connection after 20 murtis were recovered from the residence of a French citizen from Auroville in Puducherry.

8) A 13-year-old Hindu girl from an SC community was allegedly kept at a police station for an entire night and beaten up when she attempted to file a kidnapping and rape complaint against one Babu Khan in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur city.

9) A man, Moin Pathan, working in a garage has been arrested for raping a 14-year-old girl in Vadodara, Gujarat. Pathan was nabbed on Monday after the girl’s father filed a complaint of rape against him.

9) Shahrukh Pathan, with the help of a friend, on Saturday (September 10) afternoon murdered Dakshaben Parmar in Vadodara, Gujarat after mistaking her for her daughter-in-law whom he had been stalking.

10) Deepak Barde, belonging to the Bhil community and residing in Ahmednagar District’s Shrirampur taluka, has been reportedly murdered by Majnu Shaikh and others over his relationship with a Muslim woman.

11) A case has been filed against director Indra Kumar, actors Ajay Devgn and Siddhartha Malhotra, in a Jaunpur court by lawyer Himanshu Srivastava. According to the petitioner, the film’s trailer which has been released mocks religion and has hurt religious sentiments.

12) Pastor Ranjit Abraham from Kerala running the biggest conversion syndicate with help of foreign funds from his UK and Australian NGO Heart for India and US charity organisation Christ for India (CFI). Heart for India (HFI) openly states the aim of providing funds to convert Bharat.

13) In a brutal reminder of the attack on and murder of sadhus in Palghar, four sadhus were attacked in Maharashtra’s Sangli on suspicion of being child lifters. Assistant Sub-inspector Pankaj Pawar of Umadi police stated that they took suo moto cognizance of the incident after the video of the assault went viral on social media.

14) Two minor Hindu sisters were raped, murdered and hung by 5 Muslim youths yesterday (September 14) in the Nighasan area of Lakhimpur Kheri district, UP.

15) In a shocking incident at a remote tea garden area at Koilamari Balijan in Assams Lakhimpur district, the body of a vanvasi youth — Biki Bishal (20) — was found hanging from a tree, the police said on Thursday.

16) Six persons have been arrested for running a hookah bar in the name of a family restaurant in Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Budaun District. The bar was allegedly used to trap and blackmail Hindu girls in attempted grooming/love jihad. The arrested accused have been identified as Faiz, Lalu, Ayaaz, Varun, Arbaz, and Abdul Kadir alias Jilani for running the hookah bar.

Bangladesh

Attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh are relentless and designed to gradually cleanse the religious minority from the country. According to a study by Prof. Abul Barakat of Dhaka University, no Hindus will be left in Bangladesh by 2050 due to systemic and institutionalized persecution. Temple desecration, land grabbing, mob attacks after false blasphemy charges, rape/forced conversion of women, and hate speech are some tools used to intimidate and drive Hindus out.

1) Recently, on the occasion of Mujib Barsha, the government of Bangladesh made a gift to the Santal Hindus of the country. The Santal Hindu community is now spending their days in other people’s backyards due to house encroachment. The area around Fazilpur of Dinajpur Sadar Upazila has become quite noisy around this incident. The victim Santals complained that some Islamist families of the local Chilmon Khan Dighi had occupied their houses.

2) Local Islamists have already started vandalising (Tweet archived here) Durga murtis in the Kushtia district of the country. This year’s first Durga murti vandalism incident took place in Bangladesh last night (September 15).

3) Kakali Rani, a Hindu teacher at Kamarkathi Girls Secondary School in Nesarabad, Barisal district was accused by local Islamists accused of insulting Islam and the Prophet Mohammad.

4) A Hindu temple dedicated to Maa Kali was vandalized in Sherpur on September 12 (Tweet archived here)

5) A Hindu temple was attacked in Luhani on September 11 (Tweet archived here)

6) Police constable Pritam Mondal was detained by Dhaka’s Nababganj police based on false blasphemy charges (Tweet archived here)

World

1) A BAPS Swaminarayan temple in Toronto, Canada has been defaced with pro-Khalistan and anti-Bharat slogans in yet another anti-Hindu hate crime from the Anglosphere. Videos showed ‘Khalistan Zindabad, Hindustan Murdabad’ painted on the walls of the temple.

Most hate crimes are driven by anti-Hindu bigotry encoded in certain religious teachings and political ideologies. While the anti-Hindu hate in Islamic countries is evident, there is another subtler form of anti-Hindu sentiment within institutions and the public sphere of ostensibly secular states (like India) that provides an enabling environment for Hinduphobia and hate crimes. This subtle, everyday discrimination can be missed unless one studies prevailing laws and patterns. The gradual ban on firecrackers during Diwali is a good example – it might seem pollution-related on the surface, but the double standards at play become apparent when one looks at the larger picture of restrictions on Hindu festivals and the lack of sound reasoning behind the ban.

We request all readers to share other anti-Hindu hate crimes that we might have missed in this period in the comments below or by dropping an email to [email protected]. We also solicit support in maintaining the Hindu human rights tracker database.