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 17 December to 23 December 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) An attempt was made by a Muslim teacher to convert some Hindu children in Gaur Siddhartham Society of Siddharth Vihar, Ghaziabad. This Muslim teacher used to put pressure on them to convert to Islam, in return, children were lured with chocolate, he was also threatening the children with dire consequences.

2) An army man’s sister was abducted by Izmamul, Alamgir, Meraj Ansari, and Naushad Ansari in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar. Her father has alleged forced religious conversion.

3) In a shocking incident, Gulshan Kumar, a middleman in the Dabua Vegetable Market, was reportedly accosted by Islamist criminals led by Pappu Qureshi. The criminals forced Kumar to sign papers about his shop, all while holding a gun to his head and issuing threats to his life.

4) In Bihar’s Gopalganj, a priest (Pujari) of a Shiv Temple was brutally murdered. The deceased victim has been identified as Manoj Kumar Sah. The matter pertains to Danapur village in the Manjhagarh police station area. The mutilated body of the victim, with his eyes gouged out and tongue and genitals chopped off, was recovered in the bushes near a dairy shop.

5) Precious Ashtadhatu vigrahas of Radha-Krishna and the throne of Bhagwan were stolen from a Mandir in the Mahoba district of UP (Uttar Pradesh). Surprisingly, this temple is located inside the police station.

6) A Hindu woman in a village in the Kheda district was subjected to a brutal assault by Farooq Pathan after she refused to engage in an affair with him. Accused Farooq Pathan tried to even behead the victim woman.

7) DMK spokesperson Puhazh Gandhi, in a television debate on the Times Now channel, had this to say about Bhagwan Ram – “Let me put it in a single line. Even if Lord Ram comes and contests here, people may fall at his feet, people may light diyas, etc, but people will not vote for him. That is the rationalist viewpoint of the people of Tamil Nadu under the Dravidian movement.”

8) Two bus drivers named Mohammed Arif and Lalit are accused of gang-raping a 20-year-old Dalit woman who was travelling from Kanpur to Jaipur.

9) Two minor girls were forcefully sent to an orphanage in Daund and were forcefully converted to Christianity. The girls were also forced to clean toilets and were influenced against Hindu Dharma and deities. They were beaten and tortured after their mother’s death in the year 2020.

10) Tensions escalated in a Gopalganj village in Bihar as a law-and-order crisis unfolded following the discovery of the mutilated body of temple priest Manoj Shah. Shah was not only murdered but subjected to an ISIS-style desecration, including the gouging of eyes, mutilation of private parts and tongue, and acid poured on his face.

11) Furkan, who trapped the daughter of a cold storage owner, has threatened to kill the girl and her grandfather from jail. The accused’s father and brother stopped the girl’s grandfather when he was on the way to the court and threatened to kill him if he testified in court. Kamlanagar police have registered a case against the accused and his father and brother.

12) Communal tension erupted in the Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh as a mob of Muslims clashed with Hindu devotees over the construction of a temple boundary. The situation escalated to the point where stones were hurled by these Muslims at the police attempting to control the matter.

13) Maharashtra Police registered a case against an individual named Zeeshan for the reported sexual assault of a minor girl in the Shrigonda region of Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra. Additionally, a girl has been implicated in assisting Zeeshan in approaching the victim. The accused took derogatory images of the victim and coerced her into sexual acts through the use of compromising photographs.

14)

Pakistan

Abduction, rape, forced conversion, and marriage of minor Hindu girls are common occurrences in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. At least 1000 minority girls suffer such sex slavery every year in Sindh province alone. Apart from this, Pakistani Hindus face systemic and institutionalized discrimination and neglect, such as frequent attacks on Hindu temples, demonization of education curriculum, police and judicial antipathy, denial of fundamental rights, and even untouchability. This latest instance of the brutal rape and murder of a Bheel woman in Pakistan is yet another proof of the pitiable condition of Hindu minorities in Pakistan.

1) A case of abduction of a 14-year-old Cheri Kolhi has been registered at the Samaro police station on the complaint of Shagan Kolhi, a resident of Village Hamiro Kolhi near Samaro in District Umarkot. The police have registered the case of Cheri Kolhi’s abduction 15 days after the incident.

2) The iconic Sita-Ram temple, with a rich history spanning over a century, in Pakistan’s Ahmadpur Sial, was converted into a chicken shop.

3) A 16-year-old Indra Deewan, d/o Giyan Mal, has been abducted, converted to Islam and forced into nikah sex slavery by Sajid Hussain in Tando Jam town of Hyderabad district in Sindh province.

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 temples of Alfadanga Upazila of Faridpur district came under attack. Several Murtis, including the Murti of Ma Durga, Bhagwan Shiva, Ma Saraswati, and several other Murtis, were vandalised. The temples attacked are Sri Sri Damodar Akhra Durga Mandir, Sri Vishnu Pagla Ashram and Sri Sri Hari Mandir. 

2) Amid ongoing Hindu persecution in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Islamists are now trying to infiltrate the sacred Hindu pilgrimage site, the Chandranath Temple. Islamists allegedly are coming to the holy site, chanting Islamic slogans like ‘Allahu akbar’ and other slogans, resulting in terrorising Hindu pilgrims.

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.