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 01 October to 07 October 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) Yaseen, Mohammad, and Sohail tore a banner put up to wish for Ganesh Chaturthi during the Eid Milad procession in Karnataka’s Vijayapura. The banner had pictures of Sri Ganesh and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

2) Vadodara Police arrested 20 individuals for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of the Hindu community while taking out a procession on the occasion of Eid Milad un Nabi in Gujarat’s Vadodara. The Muslim youths were taken into custody for making objectionable comments and obscene gestures during the Eid Milad procession near Ambaji temple.

3) In Madhya Pradesh’s (MP) Indore, Police arrested an event manager named Sana Khan alias Rafiqunisha Khan alias Payal Khan, who had been pressuring law students to convert to Islam for quite some time. Furthermore, she provided multiple inducements to Hindu girls to lure them into marrying Muslim guys. She is originally from Rewa and was staying in Satyam Vihar Colony.

4) In a shocking incident at the historic Baba Bodheshwar Mahadev temple in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Javed launched a violent attack on devotees gathered at the temple. Armed with a lathi, Javed stormed the temple premises during the auspicious occasion of Bhadrapad Purnima, brutally assaulting devotees and leaving eight of them injured.

5) KMC to not allow a single cowshed within Kolkata premises for ‘sanitary’ reasons, announced Mayor Firhad Hakim.

6) A sensational case of love jihad and torture of a Hindu girl has come to light from the Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh. The victim is reportedly from Ramganj Pakka Talab and married to Ahmed Sharif, an ITI Road resident who works in the merchant navy. He identified himself as Ajay Singh when he first contacted the girl over the phone, after which they regularly talked. After marriage, her in-laws forced her to convert to Islam and eat beef. They also threw her out of the house when she refused to comply.

7) Fourteen VHP members were arrested for garlanding the Bharat Mata photo at Kanyakumari Bhagawati Amman temple on Sannidhi Street. 

8) After a massive stir, four were held in Churachandpur concerning the brutal murder of 2 Meitei students in Manipur.

9) Mumbai police reportedly discriminated against Hindus by taking “action” against Ganeshotsav mandals for using loudspeakers during visarjan procession while allowing Muslims to use loudspeakers and DJ during Eid-e-Milad even beyond the stipulated 10 PM deadline.

10) On 01 October, a new case of grooming jihad came to light UP’s Meerut. A Muslim man identified as Haroon posed as Rohit and lured a Hindu woman into a relationship. Later, he threatened her with obscene video and forced her to convert to Islam.

11) Islamic State terrorist Shahnawaz targeted the Sabarimala temple.

12) Karnataka’s Shivamogga experienced a disturbing episode of communal unrest when individuals participating in the Milad un-Nabi/Id-e-Milad procession resorted to stone-pelting, leaving several injured. The mob also attacked/pelted stones at Hindu homes and displayed a cut-out of Tipu Sultan portraying him engaging in a violent act against two Hindus dressed in saffron attire.

13) Four ashtadhatu murtis of Prabhu Ram, Mata Sita, Sri Laxman, and Sri Bajrang Bali were stolen from an ancient Ram mandir near Patna.

14) Vegetable vendor Haroon Ali (27) bludgeoned his neighbour Sushila Devi (40) to death for demanding the return of the 7000 rupees loan she had given him. The incident was reported from UP’s Lucknow.

15) In a horrific incident reported by MP (Madhya Pradesh),50-year-old Altaf reportedly raped and impregnated a minor, who is a Hindu, then got the fetus aborted and dumped it in a village in MP’s Vidisha. The 15-year-old girl was subjected to sexual exploitation for over a year at the hands of the accused, as per reports.

16) The Ghaziabad police have booked the chief of a Hindu Raksha Dal who engaged in an altercation with a traffic constable for issuing a challan against a vehicle with a ‘Jai Mata Di’ sticker on it.

17) Islamist hooligans defiled Abbakka’s statue in Karnataka. Hundreds clambered atop it during the Eid procession in Mangaluru.

18) Two cases of narcotic jihad were reported from Kerala on the same day. Kozhikode police arrested a three-member gang who threatened a doctor with a sword and robbed him. E.K Muhammad Anas (26) of Mattummal House, N.P Shijindas (27) of Gourishankaram, Kunnamangalam, and Anu Krishna (24) from Paroppadi were apprehended.

19) SHUATS (Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences) Director Vinod Bihari Lal, a crypto-Christian, was arrested. He is accused of running an illegal conversion racket, molestation, fraud, and other crimes in five UP districts.

20) Hindu students were made to wear Hijabs and sing Islamic songs for the Eid function at a private school in MP’s Guna.

21) Ramjanaki Mandir’s Pujari Manindra Mani Tripathi was brutally murdered, and his dead body was discarded in a field near the Mandir. The gruesome murder occurred in Prayagraj. The perpetrators had shoved a cloth into the Pujari’s mouth and bound his hands and feet with a towel, suggesting he may have been strangled to death. The authorities were alerted to the incident in the morning, prompting a swift response from the Police. The Mandir’s lock had been forcibly broken, and the murtis were also discovered scattered in the field. The Police immediately sent Pujari’s autopsy.

22) Christian Kukis paralyzed life in two Manipur districts over arrests by CBI in the heinous murder of two Meitei children.

23) A case of abduction and conversion has surfaced from the Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal. A minor Hindu girl (15) has been allegedly abducted and converted. But, even after filing a complaint, the Police remained inactive as the abductor is the relative of an influential leader of the ruling party, TMC. Also, the Calcutta High Court, which is unhappy with the police investigation, directed the Police to give necessary security to the girl’s family.

24) Islamists are using social media (SM) to spew venom against Hindus while taking refuge under the vague rules of SM platforms. In the latest instance, an Islamist ‘influencer’ identified as Mohammad Majeed has threatened Hindus with genocide. “Zinda rehna hai toh bhaag lo warna lashein bhi pehchhan mein na aayengi tumhari..hum deen ka jhanda gadenge”, he lip-syncs to the song in the 14-second Instagram clip. The clip translates to “If you want to remain alive, run away, else even the dead bodies will be unrecognizable…we will fly the Islamist flag high”.

25) A heinous case of rape of an innocent minor girl has come to light in the pilgrimage city Omkareshwar, Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh. A 40-year-old Muslim auto driver Javed Mansoori raped a 9-year-old innocent girl. The victim hailed from a tribal community, and her mother is mentally challenged while her father has passed away.

26) Jamia PhD student Arshad Warsi, who was also named in the Delhi anti-Hindu riots case with Sharjeel Imam, was arrested in the ISIS Pune terror module case.

27) A Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso) court in Ernakulam has found Zafar Shah (32) guilty of the murder of a 17-year-old girl student. Shah was sentenced to double life imprisonment. The prosecution proved that Shah abused, tortured, and murdered the young victim and tried to destroy evidence.

28) Three cops were suspended after processionists merely offered puja near a mosque in Karnataka’s Koppal. The order stated that the police officers were suspended for negligence in duty during the immersion of Sri Ganesh’s murti on October 3.

29) Two youths from Jharkhand were taken into police custody from the Gorakhnath temple for allegedly carrying three live cartridges during a security check. However, the police refused to divulge their names.

30) National shooting champion Tara Shahdeo gets justice after nine years as ex-husband Rakib-ul Hasan was given a life sentence for forced conversion to Islam and mother-in-law Kaushar Rani was handed ten years imprisonment by the CBI court.

31) In a shocking incident reported from the state of Uttar Pradesh, a 15-year-old Hindu girl was brutally attacked with a sharp weapon by a person identified as Shauqeen in the Modinagar region of Ghaziabad district. The brutal attack resulted in 9 severe injuries on the body of the victim girl, including serious injuries on her head, neck, and hands, as well as a fractured elbow.

32) Amid news of Murti vandalism from Bangladesh, now report of Durga Murti vandalism has been coming from the Nadia district of West Bengal. As per the received information, on Thursday morning, Puja committee members found that Durga Murti and other Murtis were broken. This triggered massive outrage in the locality. The police reached the pandal after receiving the information.

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) After Faridpur and Gopalganj, a Durga Murti was vandalized in Narail district. As per reports, unknown miscreants vandalized the under-construction Durga murti at Purulia village under Kalia Upazila of Narail district. On the night of 28 September, the Murtis were vandalized inside the Purulia Thakurbari village temple.

2) A murti of Maa Durga was vandalized in the temple at Porahati village under Porahati Union of Jhenaidah Sadar Police Station of Jhenaidah district.

3) Rupali Rani Das (45), a resident of Gouramba Union under the Rampal Police Station of Bagerhat district, was jailed over alleged blasphemy charges. Local Hindus say that false blasphemy charges have been framed against the woman to avenge personal enmity.

4) A Bangladeshi Muslim man named Abedin has been accused of getting his Hindu wife Jaya publicly hacked to death. The brutal murder took place in Dinajpur on the evening of 27 September. According to available information, one person was arrested in this regard, and further investigation is underway.

5) Pallikabi Radhakant Das (80) of the Bhitarband area of Nageshwari Upazila of Kurigram was seriously injured in the attack by Md. Rafiqul Islam (38). His son Jugal Chandra Roy has filed a complaint at the Nageshwari police station. However, so far, no one has been arrested in connection with the incident.

6) Islamists allegedly attacked Hindu minority families and threatened them to evict them from their ancestral lands.  As per the received information, some Hindu families have been living in their ancestral lands for generations in Rupganj under the Narayanganj district. Recently, with the help of vicious people in the administration, a land mafia named Arif Ahmed allegedly made papers of the land. Since then, Islamists led by Arif Ahmed have continuously threatened Hindu families to leave.

World

1) “Divisive vested interests have targeted & extorted me, CISCO, & others”, said CISCO engineer Sundar Iyer in his message to California Governor Newsom after he was trapped in a fake caste discrimination case.

2) Khalistani jihadis delivered cow urine wrapped in Bharat’s flag as a “gift” to Indian High Commission in London on Gandhi Jayanti.

3) Stones were pelted, and ‘Sar Tan Se Juda’ slogans were raised during the Eid procession prompting Nepal’s Banke district administration to impose prohibitory orders.

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 emailing [email protected]. We also solicit support in maintaining the Hindu human rights tracker database.