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 13 November to 19 November 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) Mason Md. Usman was sentenced to life, 6 months after raping a minor in Kairana, UP.
2) Shraddha met Aftab Poonawalla on a dating app and started a live-in, he murdered & chopped her into 35 pieces.
3) Student Himank Bansal was forced to chant Allah-hu-Akbar by Islamists who beat him up. The incident at Hyderabad ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE). The case came to light after the video went viral on social media. The footage that was shared extensively on social media on November 12 shows a group of students beating up and threatening Himank inside a hostel room.
4) National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairperson Priyank Kanoongo has lodged an FIR against 10 individuals connected to a Christian Missionary organization for illegal conversions of children in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh, late Sunday night.
5) Haseen Parvez, the caretaker of the children’s home, has been accused of changing the names and religions of three children to Islam on their AADHAR cards. He also allegedly included his name as their guardian on their AADHAR cards.
6) Nidhi Gupta (17) was pushed to death from the fourth floor of a building in Lucknow by Mohammed Sufiyan for refusing to convert to Islam and marry him. The incident took place in Sector H, Basant Kunj under Dubagga police station limits of UP’s capital on Tuesday night.
7) Husband filed a complaint saying his wife was forcing him to convert to Christianity. The case brought to light the fact that missionaries were using a rowdy sheeter to force conversions among the Shikkaligaara Hindu community in Karnataka’s Hubballi.
8) The Union Christian College’s (UC College) Centennial Vista 2022 celebrations in Aluva, Ernakulam district shocked citizens after the event turned out to be an open Hindu bashing event. They put up anti-Hindu installations and called them ‘artworks’.
9) Amazon has been accused of funding a Christian conversion module that is reported to have converted more than 25000 people in north-east Bharat.
10) Trinamool Congress MLA Khokon Das of the Burdwan South constituency has ordered party workers that only the names of those close to the TMC should be included in the voter list. At the same time, he instructed his workers not to allow the name of the refugee Hindu community from Bangladesh on the voter list.
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) Abu Bakar beheaded Kavita Rani and chopped her hands, wrapped them in plastic polythene and threw it into the drain after she found out her ‘boyfriend’ was already married. The case was reported from Sonadanga in Khulna District.
2) A temple was attacked and Shivling was destroyed by Islamist fanatics in Gukandha’s Tishta Bazar on November 17 (Tweet archived here).
3) Amol Devnath was hacked to death on November 18 in Dinajpur’s Birganj (Tweet archived here).
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.