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 12 November to 18 November 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) BSF successfully busted crime and cattle smuggling on the Bangladesh border using drone technology.

2) The media used the Hindu festival of Dhanteras to highlight a crime committed by a Muslim man.

3) For more than a week, the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Chief Asaduddin Owaisi has been doing door-to-door campaigning for his nine candidates contesting the Telangana Assembly polls 2023. During the campaigning process, a Muslim woman, while interacting with Asaduddin Owaisi, openly expressed her desire to ‘murder’ BJP MLA from Goshamahal, T Raja Singh. During the exchange, Barrister Owaisi neither appeared to stop her from giving violent death threats nor condemned her for the same.

4) In the Chitradurga district of Karnataka, a father-son duo were booked for allegedly converting a boy belonging to the Kuruba community to Islam forcefully. The case against the 17-year-old Muslim boy and his father, Garib, was registered on the complaint lodged by the victim’s father, Chitradurga’s Parashurampura, on 29 October.

5) Samajwadi Party (SP) MLC Swami Prasad Maurya, in his post on X on Diwali, raised questions about Devi Lakshmi, after which he is being fiercely trolled by netizens. “Every child born in any religion, caste, race, colour and country of the whole world has two hands, two legs, two ears, two eyes, a nose with two holes, a head, stomach and back but a child with four hands, eight hands, ten hands, twenty hands and a thousand hands has not been born till date, then how can Lakshmi be born with four hands?” he wrote.

6) A Muslim man named Mohammad Wali Jam killed a Hindu youth in Morbi, Gujarat, recently after a fight over bursting firecrackers. The Morbi region was deeply affected by the murder. The incident has also caused outrage in the local Hindu community and organizations who are demanding bulldozer action against Wali.

7) Bangladeshi cow smugglers stole at least 22 cows from a village near Bharat-Bangladesh International Border. The smugglers entered Bharat by cutting a wired fence along the border. 

8) With the arrest of two youths, Karnataka police claimed to have cracked the murder case of female lab technician Manjula in Hatti town of the district. Earlier, it was suspected to be a case of human sacrifice, but investigations revealed that the middle-aged victim was in a relationship with one of the young killers. The arrested have been identified as 23-year-old Sameer Sohail and Mohammad Kaif.

9) On 13 November, a disturbing incident unfolded at the Kanifnath Mandir in the Rahuri region of Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar. Hindu devotees, including women and the pujari, were violently attacked by a group of Islamists identified as Raju Sheikh, Rajjak Sattar, Nasir, Ibrahim, and 40 others. The assault occurred while the devotees were performing Bhajans to celebrate Diwali. A viral video captured the Islamists physically assaulting Hindus, including women engaged in religious activities.

10) UP ATS (Uttar Pradesh Anti Terrorism Squad) and Bihar Police arrested Izharul Hussain in a terror funding case from West Champaran.

11) A Janam TV report on a Hindu family in Kerala’s Thrissur being harassed by Muslim community members surfaced on social media platform X a few days ago. The 1.5-minute video shows the Hindu family literally in tears when narrating how the Islamists were troubling them.

12) Bollywood entertainers Varun Dhawan, Neha Sharma and others shared an old post to blame Diwali for pollution in Mumbai and Delhi.

13) In a recent development on 14 November, the Andhra Pradesh Police initiated a police complaint against members of local churches in Chittoor for involvement in converting Hindus to Christianity at the sacred Temple tank. The incident took place in the Karvetinagaram village of Chittoor district, where church authorities performed baptisms on Hindus at the Pushkarini of Venugopala Swamy temple.

14) A 20-year-old Muslim woman named Alisha and her three family members were implicated in a case involving the reported abetment of her Hindu husband’s suicide. The incident occurred in the Patelnagar area of Dehradun city, where a 21-year-old man, Rohit Sharma, succumbed to the effects of consuming a poisonous substance while undergoing treatment at a hospital on 2 November.

15) Two thieves who committed theft while wearing burqas have been arrested in Mumbai, Maharashtra’s capital. This action was taken by Mumbai MIDC Police, and CCTV footage of the theft has also surfaced. It must be highlighted that these thieves committed the thefts in broad daylight. Their group used to commit crimes wearing burqas.

16) Hinduphobia is on the rise in Bharat. A fresh case of that phobia has come from West Bengal. An online Facebook group is organising a painting competition named ‘Against Hindu Terrorism’. 

17) The Legal Rights Protection Forum (LRPF) recently approached the Ministry of Home Affairs with a formal complaint against the Christian NGO Jesus Redeems, based in Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin.

18) A bomb exploded near Shiv Mandir in Jammu & Kashmir’s Poonch a month after posters threatening Hindus and Sikhs to leave their homes appeared in the area.

19) In Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Barabanki, some miscreants, including tent owner Anwar, beat up a sub-inspector over a minor dispute. Inspector Rajaram was seriously injured and immediately taken to the hospital, where his treatment is ongoing. A video of the inspector being brutally beaten has also gone viral on social media. The police have registered a case against 10 people and initiated action against them.

20) A shocking incident has come to light from the cemetery located in the Rewari Talab area of ​​Varanasi, where a Muslim youth took out the body of a five-year-old girl from the grave and slept drunk next to her. On the information of the innocent minor’s father, the Laksa police station has arrested the accused.

21) An incident in Haridwar’s revered Har Ki Pauri has stirred controversy as a Muslim youth, identified as Nizamuddin, was apprehended for selling eggs in a prohibited area, violating established norms that prohibit the sale of meat and alcohol near the sacred site. The incident, which prompted swift police intervention, has ignited debates on the necessity of stricter enforcement of regulations to preserve the sanctity of this pilgrimage site.

22) In Haryana’s Nuh, a disturbing incident unfolded on the night of 16 November as a group of Hindu devotees, primarily women, faced an attack by Madrasa students while en route to the Kuan Pujan ritual.

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) Islamic radicals in Shadipur village of Jhikargacha Upazila under Jessore district attacked a minority Hindu family and stabbed the father and the son. The condition of the father is very critical. Arjun Mondal and his father were attacked by his neighbour Abdus Samad and his men.

World

1) AP World History taught in Maryland schools in the USA is filled with horrendous disinformation, errors, erasures and more, designed to make the Indian student reject their heritage.

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.