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 March to 30 March 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) A purported video showing Prasun Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress candidate from the Howrah Lok Sabha constituency and former captain of the India football team, making objectionable comments about Hindus has gone viral on social media.

2) The Rajbali family’s residence in Uttar Pradesh’s Basti district was burned by a Muslim man named Qasim after a child hit him with a ball while playing. In this arson, three bovine animals tied up in the thatched house of the victim’s family received injuries and are currently being treated at the animal hospital. Fortunately, Rajbali’s family escaped death.

3) In a distressing incident, Islamists allegedly abducted and gang-raped a married Hindu woman in the Shiva Tilla area of Lakhipur of the Cachar district of Assam. After receiving the complaint, the Police immediately launched an investigation and arrested four Islamists. The arrested Islamists were identified as Jamir Uddin Barbhuiya, Samsul Haque Laskar, Abul Hussain Laskar and Masuk Uddin Barbhuiya. Among them, the prime accused, Jamir Uddin Barbhuiya, tried to flee after attacking the Police officials. 

4) In Madhya Pradesh’s (MP) Indore, Mohammad Faizan was apprehended by members of a Hindu organization. He is accused of engaging in physical relations with a Hindu woman under the false pretence of marriage and later pressuring her for religious conversion. When the victim refused to accept Islam, the accused assaulted her.

5) Tensions arose in Hyderabad in Chengicherla near Ghatkesar when Islamists started attacking Hindus for playing bhakti/religious songs while performing Holika Dahan on 24 March to celebrate Holi. The celebrations were happening near a mosque.

6) Suresh was attacked and injured by a group of people led by Farhan and Musa using a knife. The incident occurred following a minor argument between the two parties. Following the argument, Farhan, accompanied by his friends, attacked Suresh with a knife, injuring him grievously. The victim was taken to the hospital for treatment.

7) In Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Lucknow, an auto driver named Manish was assaulted, and his auto was vandalized while he was playing a song of ‘Sri Ram’. The incident occurred near Mahona Sheikh Tola Madrasa, where auto driver Manish and his cousin Umesh were beaten up. The attackers were identified as Shanu Sabhasad, Danish, Safiq, and Shamim Shaikh.

8) Shocking details of a rape in a Guwahati lodge have come to the fore, where the accused was identified as Parvez Ansari, a resident of Meghalaya. According to reports, a young Hindu girl was invited to a lodge in Guwahati on the pretext of attending a birthday party where she was allegedly drugged, locked up in the lodge room and raped by the accused. The incident reportedly took place at Rajdhani Lodge in Guwahati. Accused Parvez Ansari invited the girl to attend a birthday party.

9) A Hindu girl was brutally gang raped by three individuals identified as Aamir, Faiz and Mohammed Faraz in Uttar Pradesh’s Ambedkarnagar district. The 20-year-old was held hostage in a tube well, and when she protested, she was assaulted. The victim was immediately rushed to the hospital in a bleeding condition. The three accused persons have been arrested by the police and booked under several sections of the law.

10) In a shocking incident caught on CCTV camera, a minor 11-year-old boy was assaulted for greeting a youth with ‘Jai Shri Ram’. As per reports, the minor boy had mistakenly assumed an unknown youth to be the security guard of the building where he lives with his family when he greeted him with ‘Jai Shri Ram’. Subsequently, the youth, along with his other accomplices, chased the minor boy and assaulted him for greeting one of them with ‘Jai Shri Ram’. It is also alleged that they threatened and forced the minor boy to chant ‘Allahu Akbar’.

11) A 4-year-old Hindu girl was raped by a 34-year-old Muslim man named Mohammad Appu, also known as Arman. The man, who is the brother of the girl’s tuition teacher, sexually assaulted her when she went to her tuition class, and the teacher wasn’t there. Appu even threatened her not to tell anyone about what happened.

12) A shocking case of hate crime was reported from the Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Islamists allegedly dragged a Hindu youth inside a mosque and tortured him for saying ‘Jai Sri Ram’. After receiving the information, the Police immediately rushed to the spot and recovered the Hindu youth.

13) A disturbing trend has come to light regarding the management of religious institutions in Karnataka, particularly Hindu temples, and the disproportionate attention given to them compared to other religious entities such as Waqf properties. According to recent reports, out of the staggering 34,500 temples taken over by the Karnataka government, a mere 500 are receiving financial support in the form of salaries for their staff. There is especially favouritism towards the Islamic Waqf board in fund allotment by the Karnataka state Congress government led by CM Siddaramaiah.

14) A case of the rape of a minor from the Scheduled Caste (Dalit) community has come to light in the Hapur district of Uttar Pradesh. In this case, the accused persons have been identified as Junaid, Arif, and Jamiruddin. Junaid is said to have held a minor hostage and raped her for hours. The other two accused persons tried to threaten the family of the girl and offered them Rs 2-4 lac to cover up the incident. The police started the investigation by registering an FIR against all three persons accused.

15) Amidst the Holi festivities in the Guway, in a shocking incident, a minor girl fell victim to a heinous crime as a youth inside a car allegedly raped her. The minor girl, whose identity is unknown yet, celebrated Holi with her friend Inamul Ali. Inamul Ali picked her. Later, Inamul picked up his two other friends, Raju Ali and Mandal Ali. Then, Inamul Ali intoxicated the minor girl and raped her and left her in a critical condition.

16) A video circulated online on Sunday (24 March) depicted Muslim students offering Namaz inside a classroom at Polytechnic Government College in Maharashtra’s Solapur on 21 and 22 March, citing the month of Ramzan. Reportedly, these students had initially requested permission to leave early to attend Ramzan prayers, but the college denied their request, citing standard rules applying to all students. Consequently, the students conducted their prayers inside the classroom without authorization. Despite complaints from other students about the disturbance caused, the college administration took no action against those involved.

17) A 20-year-old young man named Mohammad Sameer Syed viciously murdered his Hindu ‘best friend’ Praneeth Teja (also 20). The incident transpired inside a parked private bus at APHB Colony grounds in Hyderabad, Telangana. The horrifying development surfaced when the vehicle’s driver came across the deceased in the evening. The accused has since been arrested. He was reportedly suspicious that his friend Praneeth was having romantic relations with his sister, which fueled his brutal act while he was under the alleged influence of Ganja.

18) The police have arrested three Islamist individuals, including a father-son duo, for breaking into a Hindu auto driver’s house and assaulting him over a parking dispute. The arrested individuals have been identified as Syed Taha (24), his father Karim (52), and their friend Afrid Pasha (26). The altercation took place on Thursday night, resulting in injuries to Sukumar, the auto driver, and his family members.

19) Maharashtra police are repeatedly bearing their anti-Hindu fangs, as has been evidenced in the recent incidents reported from across the state. The latest incident is reported from Nandurbar, where the police have been accused of issuing an ‘Islamic fatwa’ asking Hindus to turn down volumes of their television during Namaz (Islamic prayer).

20) In a troubling incident aboard a Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus, a female passenger who slapped the conductor was allegedly assaulted by a bus conductor, leading to the suspension and arrest of the conductor. The conductor in question, identified as Honnappa Nagappa Agasar, was suspended by the bus operator following an altercation with a 24-year-old passenger named Tanzula Ismail Peerzade.

21) In New Delhi, a three-year-old girl was raped by a 30-year-old man named Mohammad Sagir in the Peeragarhi Area. Her family said Sagir took her to a quiet place, where locals later found blood and alcohol bottles. The Islamist man is now on the run, and locals protested at his house, demanding his arrest.

22) A group of Hindus celebrating the Holi festival in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra district was attacked by an Islamist mob. The attackers, including women, used sharp weapons and shouted slogans of “Pakistan Zindabad” while abusing Holika Mata. Two people were injured in the attack, which took place in the Rakabganj police station area. The incident occurred when some people were playing Holi in the street in front of Idgah SR Hospital in the Kutulpur area.

23) In Bihar’s Begusarai, the joy of Holi turned into tension when Islamist Mohammad Tanveer stabbed another youth for applying colours. The incident occurred when some people were playing Holi on Aloo Chatti Road. A local youth, Tanveer, passing by was also smeared with colours, which led to an argument. The angry youth then took out a knife and attacked the one who applied the colours, injuring him. The injured youth, identified as Deepak Kumar, was taken to a nearby private hospital for treatment.

24) Anuja Raveendran(36), a native of Nooranad, Alappuzha and Hashim Manzil Hashim (35) of Charumoodu Palamel, Alappuzha, died in a collision between a car and a container lorry at Adoor Pattazhimukku in Pathanamthitta. Several questions remain unanswered in a case that looks like grooming jihad has gone terribly wrong for the young Hindu lady.

25) In a shocking and deeply disturbing incident that has rocked the community of Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan, a young Hindu girl fell victim to a horrendous crime. She was abducted, gang-raped, and forcefully married by Mohammed Imran, who cunningly disguised his intentions under the guise of a potential buyer with a Hindu name on Instagram.

26) In a distressing incident that unfolded in Telangana’s Shamsheergunj area, a Hindu family became the latest target of a violent Islamist mob. Reports indicate that the family was subjected to a brutal attack by the Islamist mob, leaving them in a state of fear and trauma. The reason for the attack is not clear.

27) In a disturbing incident in Gurugram, Haryana, Adarsh Trivedi was subjected to a horrifying ordeal while on his way to celebrate Holi with his family in Auraiya. Boarding a cab from Iffco Chowk to Anand Vihar at 5 AM, Trivedi found himself in a nightmare scenario when the cab driver deviated from the intended route after he objected. The situation escalated as Trivedi was assaulted by four Islamist youths, robbed of ₹8,700, and forced to utter Allahu Akbar. After keeping him captive for five hours, the Islamist perpetrators left him near Kheda Jhanjeri and fled in a car. Upon the victim’s complaint, the Sector 17/18 police station registered a case.

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) Islamists in Bangladesh are constructing a mosque by illegally grabbing the land of a century-old Hindu temple. Kantaji Temple is located in the Dinajpur district of Bangladesh. Centuries ago, 156.53 acres of land were registered in the name of Maharaja Jagdish Nath Roy, who represented Sri Sri Kantajiu Vigraha. Since then, the historic Kantajiu Temple has turned into a pilgrimage site for hundreds and thousands of Hindus from Bangladesh and abroad.

World

1) Satyam Surana, an Indian student at the London School of Economics (LSE), has alleged that he was targeted and called a fascist while campaigning for this year’s student elections. Satyam was in the news last year when he defiantly picked the tricolour off the ground during an attack on the Indian High Commission by Khalistani elements.

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.