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 24 December to 31 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) Islamists and the left-liberal cabal have begun attacking the Uttar Pradesh Police after it attempted to disperse and control the Muslim mob, including women who launched an attack on Hindus and the police in the Moradabad region.

2) Maharashtra Police booked Siju Sheikh for br sexually exploiting a minor girl and threatening her with death. The wife of the accused, identified as Sofiana Sheikh, has also been booked by the Police for harassing the girl and her family and threatening them with death. The incident is said to have happened in the Somvar Peth area of Maharashtra’s Pune district.

3) A Dalit family in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow was attacked following a dispute among children. The case pertained to the Thakurganj police station area where a scheduled caste man named Akash Kumar from Bari Balaganj lodged a complaint in which he stated that anti-caste slurs were hurled and attempts were made to stab him by the accused Zeeshan, Abujar, Nasir and their accomplices.

4) In a shocking incident, a 15-year-old Dalit girl was sexually violated by a Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad. The accused has been identified as 25-year-old Rasuddin, son of Safiq from Jawahar Nagar. The horrific act has left the minor seriously injured. She is undergoing medical treatment in a hospital. Meanwhile, authorities have apprehended the accused and are questioning him.

5) In a deeply troubling incident, Islamist Mohd Salim, serving as a College Manager, was accused of attempting to molest a first-year college student. The incident unfolded when Salim took the girl to a separate examination hall, where he made a shocking proposition. The incident was reported from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh.

6) In an incident reported in Lucknow, Mohammad Faiz, along with a friend, stopped a moving car to assault a woman and attempted to molest her. This was not the first time Faiz targeted the victim, who had endured harassment from him before, choosing silence to protect her honour. However, she broke her silence and filed a case against Faiz.

7) School watchman Mohammad Ansari was apprehended for the sexual assault of a 4-year-old schoolgirl. The distressing incident was reported from Mumbai’s Ambujwadi, located in the Malvani area of Malad.

8) Amlan Chakraborty, a TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) employee, got angry over the many Hindus gathered in Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground for a mass Bhagavad Gita Paath event. He wrote in a comment that he wished to give them Dyer Treatment (mass slaughter) or Tiyen An Men Square treatment to those who joined the event.

9) In a Baudh Katha event held in Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Kanpur, neo-Buddhists resorted to abusing Hindu deities, which led to clashes with Hindus. They’ve called for Taliban-style breaking of murtis of Devis and Devatas.

10 Former minister of the Bihar government and Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Neeraj Kumar ‘Bablu’, gave an ultimatum to the police and administration in the Madhopur kidnapping matter. He said that in case the kidnapped 17-year-old Hindu girl was not brought back in two days, he and his supporters would take the protest to the roads. As per reports, a person named Mohammed Sahil, son of Mohammed Kalaam, a resident of Murliganj groomed a teenage girl and kidnapped her.

11) In an undated video making the rounds on social media, residents of a remote village nestled in the heart of Andhra Pradesh named Chintapalli are raising their voices against the missionaries, who are hell-bent on achieving their conversion goals; the villagers demand the removal of churches that they claim are causing significant disruptions to their daily lives.

12) In a recent development, Swami Prasad Maurya, the National Secretary of the Samajwadi Party, has once again found himself embroiled in controversies due to his statements, often perceived as anti-Hindu and anti-Sanatan. He recently termed Hindu Dharma a ‘dhokha’ (deception/fraud).

13) In a disturbing incident in Assam, Arif Hussain from Mikirbheta, Morigaon district, has been apprehended by the Assam police for posting derogatory content and inappropriate images of Hindu Goddess Mata Sita on social media.

14)  Four women and two children died due to the negligence of Tasavvar Hasan and Ghiyasuddin in Mau, but fake news peddlers blame the ‘DJ in the wedding.’

15) Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court dismissed three writ petitions filed by the Mother Superior of Amali Girls’ Higher Secondary School and Amali Convent. In its order, the court upheld the eviction order, saying that the Amali Convent illegally occupied the property of Pillayan Arthasaam Kattalai that comes under Arulmigu Papanasaswamy Temple in district Tirunelveli. The court also criticised the Christian institution for using children as a “smoke screen” to justify the illegal encroachment on temple land.

16) While addressing the Bahujan Samaj Rights Conference at Jantar Mantar, Samajwadi MLC Swami Prasad Maurya called the Hindu religion a deception on Monday (25 December). He said that Hindu ek dhokha hai (Hindu religion is a kind of deception).

17) Delhi Police arrested 29-year-old Mohammad Abdullah for stabbing Vinod (age 29) to death in his rented residence in Madipur in west Delhi’s Punjabi Bagh area. The arrested murderer, Mohammad Abdullah, is a drug addict. He used to work as an electrician. He would repair electronic gadgets at Vinod’s house. On 21 December, Vinod asked Abdullah to give back his Rs 1000. They had a minor verbal altercation also. On 22 December, Abdullah killed Vinod.

18) A shop owner in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, was assaulted by a group of four people on 26 December after questioning them about offensive banners they had put up near his shop. The banners reportedly contained derogatory remarks about Hindus and their customs.

19) Mohammad Talha Mazhar, a student from Darul Uloom Deoband, was apprehended by Saharanpur police for issuing threats to carry out an attack reminiscent of the Pulwama incident. The Uttar Pradesh Police, along with the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), promptly detained the student after he posted on his social media handle, “Insha Allah, there will be another Pulwama soon.”

20) A Dalit woman was raped in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district by the accused, identified as Mughal-e-Azam alias Riyaz and his accomplices. The matter pertains to the Dewa Police Station precinct, and a case has been registered against accused Riyaz and his three unidentified accomplices based on a complaint lodged by the victim’s father with the surname Rawat.

21) Ten persons have been booked under the anti-conversion law in Uttar Pradesh’s Hamirpur district for allegedly forcing a naib tehsildar to convert to Islam and marry illegally a second time. For the past few days, a photo of the officer, Ashish Gupta, 28, — wearing a skull cap and offering namaaz — had been circulating on social media amid claims of his religious conversion. Gupta, booked for marrying a second time, allegedly renamed himself as Yusuf.

22) In another display of hatred for the Hindu sentiment by the Congress, Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress Sam Pitroda has said that “too much importance is being given to religion through the Ram Mandir and that democracy is being undermined.

23) A complaint has been filed against Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor in the Ghatkopar Police Station for allegedly hurting religious sentiments over a viral video while celebrating Christmas. The video shows the actor pouring liquor over the cake while saying, ‘Jai Mata Di.’ The complaint has been filed by Bombay High Court’s advocates Ashish Rai and Pankaj Mishra, in which they have demanded to register a case under sections 295A, 298,500 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). However, the police have not yet registered any FIR in the matter.

24) Rohan Chowdhury died by suicide as his converted wife was pressuring him to convert to Christianity. As per the received information, Rohan Chowdhury was a resident of Prafullanagar village under the jurisdiction of Shantipur Police Station of Nadia district. He worked as a driver. He was alone in his family as his parents died many years ago. A few years ago, he married a woman. His friends alleged that sometime after marriage, his wife got converted to Christianity under the influence of missionaries. Since then, she has been pressuring him to convert.

25) Monish Ahmed and Faizal Ahmed were arrested for the murder of Abhinandan Kumar Kannaujia. The 23-year-old man was killed due to a love triangle Naka Hindola area of Uttar Pradesh.

26) Muslim infiltration from Bangladesh into Bharat through West Bengal continues. This time, vigilant BSF jawans detained a Bangladeshi Muslim woman. Later, BSF handed her to the Police for legal proceedings. The Bangladeshi woman has been identified as Jyotsna Akhtar Mithu (26). She is a resident of Brindabad village of Chapai Nawabganj district of Bangladesh. 

27) Hindu organizations filed a complaint against Punjabi singer Gurman Maan for insulting Shanidev in his latest song. They also accused the police of mistreating them when they went to register their complaint, a charge vehemently denied by the police.

28) In the days leading up to the important ceremony for the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on January 22, there’s a problem at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi. Some walls were written with messages asking to rebuild Babri Masjid. This happened on the first floor of the School of Language 2 building.

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 pathetic condition of Hindu minorities in Pakistan.

1) Baba Ramdev Mandir is the third-largest Hindu pilgrimage site in Sindh’s Tando Allahyar. A violent mob attacked the Baba Ramdev Mandir. The undated video shows a mob attacking the Mandir. The violent mob also assaulted devotees with swords and other sharp weapons.

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) Some local ruling Awami League (AL) party men have allegedly grabbed eight acres of land belonging to a minority Hindu family at Hatibandha upazila in Lalmonirhat district. Although the family had filed a complaint with the local police station against the AL men, no step has been taken so far to ward off the aggression. Moreover, the alleged grabbers — Patikapara Union Ward No 4 AL President Hafizul Islam, its General Secretary Abul Kalam, and AL activists Hazrat Ali and Redwan Ahmed — and their men also threatening land owner Rathindra Nath Roy and his wife Sushila Rani of Parulia village, with dire consequences if they dared to go to the land further.

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.