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 4 February to 10 February 2024, 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 incident of miscreants desecrating the Shivling in the famous Someshwara Temple in Narabail village in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka was reported.

2) A Hindu family is being forced to convert to Islam in Bihar’s Darbhanga. The family has alleged assault, and objectionable things are being thrown at them. This family is the only Hindu family in a Muslim-dominated village. They are being harassed in various ways. The victim has made these allegations against Mohammad Guddu and his five brothers, including Mohammad Laddu.

3) Islamist Albab Khan cheated a Hindu girl by posing as a Hindu businessman in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore.

4) Unknown miscreants vandalised and damaged several under-construction Murtis of Ma Saraswati in Baharampur town of the Murshidabad district.

5) “If Muslim youth go out of our control, no one can save India from civil war,” says controversial Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, miffed over the Bharat Ratna Award to LK Advani.

6) Mufti Salman Azhari, an Islamic preacher, was arrested by Gujarat police from Mumbai in connection with a hate speech he delivered on 31 January. The video shows Mufti inciting people against Hindus while speaking at a Muslim community event in Gujarat’s Junagadh.

7) In Madhya Pradesh’s Shajapur, 23-year-old Ankit, a youth from Lalakhedi Kulmi village, took his own life by consuming sulphas pills. Before his tragic end, he recorded two videos, sharing the reason behind his decision. He blamed Altaf for slandering his reputation.

8) The item song dance video at the Mylapore temple in Chennai sparked controversy. The dancers apologised after public outrage.

9) An under-construction Ram Mandir has been vandalised in the Coochbehar district of West Bengal.

10) Delhi Police arrested a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist identified as Riyaz Ahmed from the New Delhi Railway Station. Reports suggest that Ahmed retired from the Indian Army in January 2023. Ahmed got arrested days after Jammu and Kashmir Police busted a LeT module in district Kupwara that was plotting to carry out attacks in the region.

11) The Border Security Force (BSF) foiled a cattle smuggling attempt along the Bharat-Bangladesh International Borders and arrested a Bangladeshi cow smuggler. The arrested Bangladeshi cow smuggler has been identified as Muhammad Kamil Ahmed.

12) A shocking case of love jihad has emerged from Uttarakhand’s Haldwani, where a Hindu girl was raped and coerced into converting her religion by Naved Malik. According to the police, the accused, Naved Malik, who posed as Aman, deceived the girl and raped her. It’s reported that Naved is already married, and the victim was lured into his trap under false pretences. She was invited to his home, where she was given milk mixed with drugs and then assaulted.

13) Another shocking case of love jihad was revealed in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. According to the reports, the incident was unveiled when a woman who had been living apart from her husband for ten years. She was approached by Farman Sheikh, an Islamist who posed as Ashish.

14) Police arrested Ansarul Shah and Nazrul Shah for the gang rape of a Hindu girl. The incident took place in Digha of Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal.

15) Murtis of Prabhu Ram, Sri Laxman, and Shabri Mata were stolen from Maharashtra’s Sahasrakund Tirthkshetra by unidentified miscreant(s) who subsequently discarded the murtis at Painganga dam. The temple is in Kinwat Taluka’s Islapur village of Maharashtra’s Nanded District.

16) At the Gareeb Nawaz Conference held in Mumbra, Sayed Shabahat Hussain Qaudri, an Islamic cleric, instigated violence in a viral hate speech clip demanding Azhari’s release in exchange. Several speakers were seen speaking the same hate-filled language.

17) A Bhim army worker had posted a video announcing a bounty for anyone who chops off the head and gouges out the eyes of Tulsipeeth’s Swami Rambhadracharya. As the video went viral, demands were made to arrest the worker. Bhim army worker David Jatav, son of Satyaveer Singh, was arrested by the Aligarh Police.

18) Islamists rioted in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani after illegally constructed mosques & madrasas were razed.

19) A farmer from Lokur village in Dharwad district, Karnataka, was the victim of an assault at the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Market in Dharwad. The victim suffered severe injuries and was identified as Erappa Udikeri, a Hindu farmer. Erappa was targeted and attacked by a few Muslim farmers for the sole reason that he was Hindu.

20) Police announced that a 16-year-old boy, Vaibhav Singhal, from Greater Noida, who went missing about nine days ago, was murdered by his two ‘friends’ Maz Pathan (19) and Ayan Khan (15). Reports say the trouble began after Vaibhav put up a status celebrating Ram Yatra on 22 January.

21) A minor boy (10) was abused and physically tortured in a Christian Missionary school in Assam’s Sonitpur district for raising the Jai Sri Ram slogan inside the classroom. The incident allegedly took place at the ‘Calvary English School’, situated in the Khelmati area of Balipara.

22) Barelvi head Tauqeer Raza Khan, who threatened civil war on the Gyanvapi issue, was detained by the police. Stone pelting was reported in the Shahmat Ganj area, in which one person was injured.

23) The Uttarakhand Assembly witnessed a massive uproar when a Congress MLA made controversial remarks on the colour of the recently consecrated Ram Lalla murti at Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya. During the discussion on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill, Congress MLA from Jaspur, Adesh Singh Chauhan, lamented that the Ram Lalla vigraha has been made black.

24) A very unique fraud has come to light from the Amethi district of Uttar Pradesh, which saw the inexplicable return of a man who vanished without a trace 22 years ago at the age of 11 years. The man named Arun Singh alias Pintu (some reports say Pinku) returned as an ‘ascetic’ seeking alms from his mother. However, later, it was found that it was an elaborate plan to defraud the boy’s family, and imposter Nafees pretended to be Arun Singh.

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) An Islamist attacked the ISKCON Radha Govinda temple in Faridpur. A police officer of the Sobharampur Police Station said, “We have arrested the accused person. A case has been started against the accused under the relevant sections.”

World

1) BBC brazens out its anti-Ram Mandir propaganda peddled by Geeta Pandey, anti-Hindu ‘journalist’ who eulogised gangster Atiq Ahmed as ‘Robinhood’.

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.