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 04 December to 17 December 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 case of police brutality has come to light from Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh. The incident took place in Jashpur where Hindus were protesting peacefully against love jihad.

2) In yet another incident which reflects the deadly religiously-indoctrinated mindset rampant within Bharat’s ‘minority’ population, one Sheikh Shakeel Miyan murdered a 42-year-old married woman named Neelam Yadav in broad daylight in the most grotesque manner. Miyan was aided in this crime by his brother Mohammed Zuddin – both are reported to have been arrested.

3) In yet another grooming jihad case, a 16-year-old SC Hindu girl was abducted by one Aman Sheikh who posed as Amrut Ram Khairnar using forged documents like Aadhaar. The girl was kidnapped by the man when she was visiting the Sai Baba temple in Shirdi. 

4) ASI bows down to land jihad as Muslims will continue using historical Buddhist cave as Mazar.

5) A temple priest from an SC (Scheduled Caste) community in Andhra Pradesh has posted a video narrating his alleged harassment at the hand of Christian villagers, who constitute an overwhelming majority in his village, to convert to Christianity and abandon the temple. The priest claims that the accused have also foisted false cases on him.

6) Young Greeshma who converted to Islam for marriage has reportedly died by ‘suicide’ in Thrissur, Kerala. The victim’s family called it a suspicious death and alleged that her husband murdered her.

7) TN HRCE Board, trusted with the protection of temples, has vandalised a temple sculpture to install a CCTV camera. After much outrage and BJP taking up the issue, the CCTV camera was removed, and the sculpture of Dwarapalaka was hastily restored.

8) A married woman was raped inside her house in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad district on Saturday by fridge repairman Asif, police said. The accused was arrested on Monday.

9) Deepu Jadam (22) was murdered by a suspected Islamist gang consisting of Sohail and others when he stopped them from sexually harassing his cousin sister during the ongoing Kartik fair in the temple town of Ujjain.

10) Maharashtra police have booked a Christian man for physically abusing his wife for more than 20 years for not converting to Christianity. He harassed her parents as well and wanted the children to be converted. He threw away the images and murtis of Hindu deities worshipped by his wife.

11) Goons of a Dravidian outfit tried to stop a temple consecration ceremony and threatened to demolish the yagasala. The temple is located inside the premises of Erode Corporation Office and they were against performing yajna in a government office.

12) A man identified as Aslam Khan posed as a Hindu and tricked a poor family to marry their minor daughter to him in Jharkhand’s Bokaro. His real identity surfaced after the Jaimala (garlanding ceremony).

14) A maulvi and 9 others have been arrested for trying to illegally convert a Hindu girl (18) to Islam and carry out her nikah with one Ahmed Ansari. This latest incident of grooming jihad has been reported from the Fatehpur district of UP.

15) An AC mechanic raped a 5-year-old girl inside a high-rise residential building lift while visiting to service an AC in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra.

16) Hinduphobia raises its ugly head as NE student bodies observe ‘black day’ to mark CAA passage.

17) Repeat offender Hindu-hater MP Thirumavalavan has mocked Hindu beliefs again saying that building temples is a business that would fetch more revenue than any other business.

18) A pastor couple has been arrested for forcibly converting SC people in Karnataka. Their son has been booked under POCSO Act for raping a minor girl on the pretext of marrying her. The pastor threw Hindu deities’ images into a canal and told the converted families that they would go to hell if they continued to pray to Hindu deities. The family has reverted to Hindu dharma now.

19) Muslim coaching centre owner posed as Sameer Khanna and wore a kalawa to fraudulently marry an ex-student.

20) A man, Saif Ali Saleem (26), has been arrested for raping a 14-year-old Hindu janjatiya girl on November 14 outside her school in Morgiri village, Patan taluka of Satara district, Maharashtra.

21) Two local men, identified as Kamal Kumar and Surinder Kumar, both belonging to ward 15 in Rajouri town, were killed and another man, Arun Kumar from Uttarakhand, was injured in firing outside an Army camp, 5 km ahead of Rajouri town which falls in district Rajouri, Jammu division of J&K.

22) A self-proclaimed pastor was heard talking about taking out a “Bharat Jodo” like yatra to convert people to Christianity. In a fake healing session organised by the pastor, Hindu women were proselytised to accept Christianity and convinced that “worshipping stones” is useless. The event was stopped on the third day after complaints.

Bangladesh

Attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh are relentless and designed to cleanse the religious minority from the country gradually. 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 tools used to intimidate and drive Hindus out.

1) Three men – Asad Miah, Milon Miah & Kulu Miah – gang-raped a Hindu housewife, a mother of 2 children, after calling her on the pretext of sewing a quilt. The shocking incident took place in Aditmari upazila of Lalmonirhat district in northern Bangladesh, Bengali language national daily Daily Janakantha reported on November 20.

2) Two Hindu sisters, 11th grader Boishakhi Swarnokar & 9th grader Shrabonti Swarnokar were brutally assaulted by Shihab Howlader, Russel Howlader and 3-4 other Muslim youths while the sisters were playing badminton in the field of a local church. The incident took place in Mongla upazila (sub-district), Bagerhat district of southwestern Bangladesh.

3) Bangladeshi writer and actress Dipanwita Roy’s parent’s property has been encroached and they have been threatened with eviction from Bangladesh by two land grabbers – Harun Mollah & Humayun Mollah.

4) Veteran poet Saroj Deb (74) was attacked & beaten by Sazzad Hossain (35) and his gang at the poet’s home in Gaibandha district headquarters town of northern Bangladesh, Bengali-language news outlet NTV has reported.

5) A 200-year-old Hindu temple has been vandalized in the Manikganj district of central Bangladesh. Officer-in-charge Abdur Rouf of the local police station confirmed the news to Bangladeshi news outlet banglanews24 as per a report dated November 20.

6) A Hindu family was attacked and looted in the Khulna district of southwestern Bangladesh. Their home, kitchen, cowshed, paddy shed, and furniture were wrecked, while cash and gold ornaments were looted by a 150-strong Islamist mob.

World

1) In what can be called a classic case of gaslighting through blatant distortion of facts, The Guardian in its recent editorial blamed Hindus living in the UK for the recent Leicester violence and also peddled fake news that mosques were attacked by Hindus of the city.

2) During the ruling Fiji First Party’s meeting in Tavua last weekend, Attorney-General and de-facto Prime Minister of Fiji, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum made extremely condescending and derogatory remarks against the Hindu devotional singers (Bhajaniyas).

3) UK Parliament rebuffs Hindu prayer requests and sittings in both houses always begin with Christian prayers.

4) The UN Economic and Social Council(UN ECOSOC) has granted consultative status to a notorious anti-Hindu organisation, International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN). The UK, USA and some European countries reportedly flexed their muscles to make ECOSOC grant the status after 15 years of rejecting IDSN’s application for the same

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. Still, 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.