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 22 January to 28 January 2023, we hope to provide a snapshot of such crimes and hopefully awaken more people around the world to this human rights crisis:
1) Anas, who was released from jail on bail in a case of molestation of a school girl, has been arrested again for allegedly molesting the victim and threatening her to withdraw the case, police said in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur.
2) Samajwadis led attempts to disrupt the dress code and enforce Burqa in Hindu College. The incident took place in UP’s Moradabad.
3) A case of love jihad ending in suicide was reported from Kerala. On 19 January, a missing man and a woman from Kasargod were found hanging inside Galaxy Inn lodge near Guruvayur Temple. The deceased were identified as Kallar natives KM Mohammad Sherif (40) and Attakam Pulikuzhi Sindhu (36). They went missing on the 7th of this month.
4) Allahabad HC gives bail to pastor accused of illegally converting 90 Hindus as ‘others have also got bail’.
5) Five Muslim men from Haryana have been caught while trying to smuggle cattle from Madurai to Kerala. They reportedly targeted Jallikattu bulls and sold them for slaughter. They tried to murder a cop when the latter tried to stop the truck.
6) Notorious Islamic cleric Sajid Rashidi has crossed all limits of civilized discourse. After earlier threatening that the Ram mandir currently being built at Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya, UP will be ‘destroyed after 100 years when Muslims come to power in Bharat’, he has now justified the repeated desecration and loot of the Somnath Mandir by Turkic marauder Mahmud of Ghazni, from present-day Afghanistan.
7) Sree Kurumba Bhagavati Temple in Kodungallur, Thrissur district, was vandalized and desecrated early morning. The ‘Moolavigraham’ (sculpture of the main deity) and the lamp post were smashed.
8) West Bengal’s Presidency University denied permission for Saraswati puja to common students who wrote to the Dean saying they wanted to use the campus premises from January 25 to 27.
9) A Hindu woman Shivli (32) who converted to Islam and became Rukhsana Bano for her second marriage to Shamsher Khan, has died. She allegedly hung herself on the morning of January 18 in the South Kakarmatta area, which comes under the Manduadih police station of Varanasi district, UP.
10) DMK government violated Agama rules to rush the temple consecration of Palani Bala Thandayuthapani Swamy temple even as pujaris warn of dire consequences.
11) Students have accused NIMHR (National Institute of Mental Health Rehabilitation) official Mohammad Ashfaq of spewing anti-Hindu hate in lectures. He has also converted the premier institute into a madrasa.
12) “Will bow only before Allah”, says UP government school teacher Hasmuddin who refused to sing the national anthem.
13) Properties of Hindus have been snatched from them in a Tamil Nadu village as the Waqf Board has claimed them as theirs. 50+ acres of agricultural land were seized from Hindu farmers and handed over to Waqf by the district administration. Hindus say that their ownership of the properties was proved at the court and yet the district administration snatched them away.
14) Mamta Devi was murdered by Armaan Khan in Jharkhand in front of her 3-year-old. The case is a perfect example of Love Jihad and an outcome of normalizing extra-marital relationships.
Bangladesh
Attacks on minority 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) On the night of January 23, just days before the festival of Basant Panchami & Saraswati Puja, Maa Saraswati murtis were desecrated in Purbadhala Bazar in Purbadhala upazila, Netrokona district of Bangladesh. The attacker was captured on CCTV footage.
2) As per the online Bangla newspaper ‘Uttoradhikar71 News’, the vigraha of Raksha Chandi Devi is kept in the family temple of Arjun Sarkar. A reporter witnessed the broken neck & head of the fallen vigraha of the Devi. The incident has been reported from Pailanputri village of Charjashordi Union (Panchayet), Nagarkanda upazila (sub-district), Faridpur district.
World
1) Burglars broke into a Texas temple and stole the donation box.
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.
