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 5 February to 11 February 2023, we hope to provide a snapshot of such crimes and hopefully awaken more people around the world to this human rights crisis:

Bharat

1) POCSO court sentenced Farooq to death for the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in UP’s (Uttar Pradesh) Fatehpur.

2) Six Muslim men from UP’s Bahraich disguised as ‘Hindu sadhus’ in saffron robes were caught in Bihar’s Nawada.

3) NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) leader Jitendra Awhad has repeatedly displayed his love for Islamists. A video of Awhad making uninformed remarks about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj has been doing the rounds of social media (SM).

4) Another illegal forced religious conversion by Christian padres came to light in Gorakhpur village of Seoni, Madhya Pradesh. Somnath Maria Prasad Das, a priest from the Madhya Kerala Diocese of the Church of South India (CSI), was arrested.

5) Jharkhand’s Bokaro Police arrested a 50-year-old man in Ranchi for marrying seven times and having physical relations with a minor. The accused identified as Aslam Khan did not reveal his religion and identity to the girls he married.

6) The Shri Krishna Temple at Brahmapur Guru-Aribam Bamon Leikai in Imphal, Manipur was vandalized by unknown miscreants on Friday morning. Upon receiving this news, a team of Imphal East District Police arrived at the spot and initiated a preliminary investigation. The temple has been in existence since 1697 and it has also been recognized as a historical monument by Manipur Archaeology Department.

7) The vandalization of the murti of Bhagwan Hanuman was reported from Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Varanasi. Miscreants broke into a Hanuman Mandir located in Narapatpur village of Varanasi District’s Chairaigaon Block in the early hours (at around 3 AM) of Monday (February 6) morning.

8) A video has emerged on social media showing a Hindu sannyasi clad in saffron confronting what appears to be government officials involved in managing the iconic Sri Panakala Lakshmi Narasimhaswamy mandir in Mangalagiri of AP’s Guntur district. The government officials reportedly stopped sankirtan and Gita preaching at the historic Mangalagiri mandir.

9) A Hindu cobbler, Gole Bharti, was mercilessly beaten to death by a road contractor Noor Alam for mistakenly taking his cycle over a newly constructed concrete road recently. The incident took place at Chaideeh village of Balrampur district in Uttar Pradesh. As per the victim’s family, the accused has not been arrested by the police so far.

10) The Mira Road Kashimira police arrested a 22-year-old man, Imtiyaz Chaudhary, for assaulting and raping his former girlfriend as a ‘punishment’ for ending their relationship. Reports say the woman broke up with him after he refused to marry her as they belonged to different faiths. The police said Chaudhary was blackmailing the victim using videos he had filmed.

11) Neo-Buddhists denigrated Hindu Dharma and desecrated murtis during the proselytization event in UP’s Sitapur.

12) In another case of grooming jihad aka love jihad, Abdul Khalid posed as Munna Yadav, stalked and raped a married Hindu girl in UP’s Raebareli.

13) Vellayani Devi Temple devotees set up an aid post for police officers on duty using saffron colour fabric. This was in response to attempts by Kerala police to ban saffron colour from temple premises. Locals alleged that communists and jihadis are trying hard to destroy the temple and its customs and rituals. They accused the Kerala police of helping these anti-Hindu elements.

14) If the Bharatiya judiciary is to be believed Hindu daughters whose mother converted to Islam have no right of inheritance to her assets. Three daughters who were abandoned by their mother have lost their claim to her assets because they are Hindus. The woman, who was their sole guardian, remarried and converted to Islam.

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) In a shocking attack on the persecuted minority community, 14 temples were attacked and their murtis destroyed in just one night in Baliadangi Upazila in the Thakurgaon district of Bangladesh. The attacks took place between Saturday night and Sunday dawn at different villages in Dhantala, Charol and Paria Unions in the Upazila, reports BDNews24.com

2) Minor Hindu boy Poritosh Sarkar was sentenced to 5 years for a ‘blasphemous’ social media post, while Islamists who burnt a Hindu village roam free.

World

1) A statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was hacked at the feet and stolen from a park in America’s San Jose. Activist Sarah Gates notes that the entire idol was simply carted away without anyone noticing it. According to locals, no one was caretaking at the park thereby allowing the miscreants to get away with the theft. The incident took place about a couple of days ago.

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.