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 19 May to 25 May 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) Three Hindu temples were desecrated by unidentified miscreants in West Bengal’s Dhupguri in the Jalpaiguri district. Extremists desecrated Maa Durga Mandir and Graha Raja Shani Maharaj Mandir.

2) Islamists allegedly gang-raped two minor girls of the Bodo community in Goalpara. The accused also murdered protester Hiranmay Khaklari.

3) In Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh, 30-40 miscreants have been booked for brutally assaulting a youth from the Dalit community. The accused identified in the FIR include Zeeshan, Naseeb, and Monty Khan, while another 30 to 40 unidentified individuals who were part of the attacking mob have also been booked. They are accused of assaulting the victim with an iron pipe while hurling casteist slurs.

4) Co-founder and CEO of Naturals, a Spa and Salon chain, CK Kumaravel, recently sparked outrage after he made a disparaging post against one of Bhrat’s renowned Freedom Fighters, Veer Savarkar. He denigrated the Bharatiya Freedom fighter, calling him “a coward”. He peddled blatant falsehoods and unfound allegations linking him to MK Gandhi’s assassination, a propaganda that has been busted by the judiciary as he was acquitted in the case.

5) Hindu Munnani has intervened to stop the alleged conversion of underprivileged children through Sunday summer classes. This time, missionaries reportedly targeted young, innocent children in the districts of Theni and Madurai in Tamil Nadu, attempting to convert them to Christianity without their parents’ knowledge by promoting the teachings of Jesus Christ. The Hindu Munnani effectively halted this activity.

6) An Islamist mob attacked school principal Sandeep Patel for taking pictures of a madrasa during an official survey in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad.

7) In a shocking incident in Bisfi in Bihar’s Madhubani district, miscreants from the local Muslim community assaulted villagers who hail from the Maha Dalit (Scheduled Caste) community, Ram Samaj, after a local asked the miscreants not to consume intoxicants.

8) Chhattisgarh police have apprehended as many as six people for allegedly promoting illegal conversion in the guise of providing relief from sickness in the bordering region of Balrampur district.

9) In a distressing incident revealed in the Kakadeo police station area, Faiz Malik created a fake Instagram ID under the name Ankit Thakur to befriend a minor girl under the pretence of helping her secure a job. Malik persuaded the girl to accompany him in his friend’s car, where he spiked her cold drink and raped her. He also recorded obscene videos and took photographs of the assault.

10) Unknown miscreants attacked Ramkrishna Mission Ashram in the Bhaktinagar area of the Jalpaiguri district. The goons were armed. They beat up the workers and Sadhus there. They also vandalised several things in the Ashram. 

11) In Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Muzaffarnagar, a case of love jihad has been reported. A Muslim man named Kamil pretended to be a Hindu named Kamal on social media to befriend a girl from Haryana and promised to marry her.

12) Maharashtra Congress leader Nana Patole displayed his Hinduphobic side yet again. In his attempt to target UP CM Yogi Adityanath, he used the anecdote of Ravana wearing ‘saffron robes’ to abduct Maa Sita. He remarked that CM Yogi supported ‘wrong policies’ while donning saffron.

13) Aligarh police arrested three people for harassing and trying to convert a female Hindu student forcibly. The incident started when the student went to Chharra town to write her B.Ed exam. While returning home, a man and his friends began following her. They had been bothering her for several days. Locals caught the men and beat them up before handing them over to the police.

14) Tension has arisen in Karnataka’s Vijayapur as Muslims opposed the construction of a community hall by the SC (‘Dalit’) community near a mosque. The conflict centres around the proposed development of a community centre by young members of the SC community near the Ikhlas Khan Mosque near Managuli Agasi.

15) The relatives of the now-arrested accused, identified as Imran, claimed on 20 May that the Hindu girl who was kidnapped and raped by Khan in February this year and her sisters are ‘characterless’. The family of the accused tried to justify his acts by demeaning the Hindu minor victim and her sisters.

14) A tragic incident occurred in Maharashtra’s Nagpur, where a 24-year-old woman named Pallavi Mahajan was found dead after being struck by a train. The police have labelled it as an attempted suicide, but Pallavi’s father, Nandkishore Mahajan, insists it was murder. He accuses Irfan, a man who had been in contact with Pallavi, and his accomplices of being responsible for her death.

15) Madhubani district court in Bihar sentenced four individuals to life imprisonment for gang-raping a minor Hindu girl. The four convicts include Mohammad Zafar Ansari, Mohammad Jibril, Mohammad Ahmed, and Akhtar Ansari. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on each convict.

16) In Meerut district, Uttar Pradesh, the police arrested Salim, accused of raping a mother and daughter and making an obscene video of them. According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rohit Singh Sajwan, the accused had befriended a girl in the Lohianagar police station area about a year ago. He raped her and made an obscene video, then threatened to make it public unless she paid him money.

17) In a distressing incident, Vicky Hawale, a Hindu youth residing in the Partur area of Maharashtra’s Jalna district, was subjected to a vicious assault by Islamists. The altercation occurred while Vicky was dining at a local hotel with his younger brother. Upon receiving a call, Jai Shree Ram played on Vicky’s phone. This ringtone apparently irked two individuals from the Islamic community seated nearby. Subsequently, they launched a violent attack on Vicky.

18) A video of Tamil Nadu Congress leader EVKS Elangovan demanding to be served beef in the state BJP office has gone viral, drawing outrage on social media.

19) Some Muslims forcibly removed a newly installed statue of Saint Kanakadas that was set to be unveiled on private land in the village of Gorlakhandoddi, Gattu Mandal.

20) In a shocking incident reported from Adarsh ​​Indira Bengali Colony in Rudrapur, Udham Singh Nagar, a hawker, Mohd Parvesh, was caught by the local people while he was kidnapping a two-and-a-half-year-old Hindu child from a house. The angry people beat him up and then handed him over to the police. The police are investigating the accused’s connection with a child-stealing gang. The accused has been produced in court and sent to jail in judicial custody.

21) A 15-year-old Hindu girl from Meerut city in Uttar Pradesh has reportedly been abducted by a man named Mohammed Zeeshan. According to reports, the accused lured the minor victim by promising to help her become a YouTuber, leading her into his trap.

22) In Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Ghazipur district, Mukhtar Sulemani stabbed Vishal Gupta in the neck, trying to behead him. Vishal’s hand was cut off when he tried to defend himself. Sulemani was angry because Vishal had asked him to work properly. After Vishal filed a complaint, the accused was arrested.

23) In a tragic and shocking incident, Islamist Abdul Apsar has been accused of murdering Mamata, a married Hindu woman with whom he had an illicit relationship. The incident has sent shockwaves through the community, raising concerns about domestic violence and relationship conflicts.

24) In a crime reported from Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Mohammad Imtiaz attacked his Hindu ‘girlfriend’ and her mother. The incident occurred in the city’s Maheshnagar Area around 11 AM on Wednesday (22 May).

25) P.A. Salim, accused of sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl in Kanhangad of Kasargode district in Kerala, was finally arrested. The 35-year-old resident of Kodagu, Karnataka, was taken into custody by the police from Andhra Pradesh.

26) Another case of love jihad has come to light in Madhya Pradesh’s (MP) Indore. Muslim youth Zafar Sheikh reportedly introduced himself as Rahul Kumar and befriended a married Hindu woman, gradually getting into a physical relationship with her. Sheikh later married her after her husband passed away. However, Sheikh revealed his true identity and began forcing her to convert to Islam. The police are investigating the matter based on the complaint registered by the woman.

27) The Surat city police’s Crime Branch in Gujarat has disrupted the Maulana module, arresting an associate of Maulana Abu Bakar from Rajasthan’s Bikaner. According to the police, Maulana had forced many Hindu youths to engage in anti-Hindu activities by converting them to Islam. The police are now examining the backgrounds of those who had contact with the Maulana.

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) The dead body of a minor Hindu girl was found hanging from the neck in a bungalow located in Khayaban-e-Bukhari, DHA, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. The girl was named Maria but lovingly called Paaria; the 16-year-old was from Tando Haider, Hyderabad. She worked as a maid at a Muslim physician’s home in the bungalow.

2) According to local reports, Ramapir temple, located at Sindh’s Tando Adam, was robbed of valuables, including cash. The robbers broke into the temple by breaking the main gate of the temple, leaving a trail of destruction and collapse. Robbers stole priceless religious items, cash, a silver murti, which was kept for worship and a huge sum of Rs 70,000 rupees from the donation box along with other valuables items. The thief also appeared to have destroyed valuable objects kept in the Mandir.

3) Muhammad Nadeem reportedly abducted a minor Hindu girl, Kamla, daughter of Sumar Meghwar, from her home in Sindh’s Tando Allahyar. He then forcibly converted her to Islam and married her. Nadeem is a resident of Darya Khan Thahim in Tando Allahyar.

4) Minor Hindu girl Maya, daughter of Bagho Kohli, resident of village Haji Muhammad Salah Nizamani, District Tando Muhammad Khan, Sindh, was abducted from her home. She was forcibly converted to Islam by Peer Agha Jaan Sarhandi at the Dargah Gulzar-e-Khalil in Samaro, 95 km away, and married to Abid Ali, son of (s/o) Muhammad Ramzan Sand. The nikah was solemnized in the Mirpurkhas court.

World

1) Tensions in Myanmar have led to communal violence, with nearly 5,000 houses of Buddhists and Hindus destroyed by Rohingya Muslims in Buthidaung, near the Bangladesh border. The situation in Myanmar is worsening, with increased fighting between the military-led junta and ethnic rebel groups, especially in Rakhine State.

2) A case of love jihad has come to light from Nepal’s Jhapa district. A youth named Firoz Mansuri kidnapped a minor Hindu girl one and a half months ago and took her with him. The victim’s family complained to the police on 24 March 2024. A total of 7 people, including Ohid, Majudin Khatun, Sakina Khatun and Alam, have been named in the complaint. The Nepali police have not yet been able to recover the victim.

3) A controversy erupted after Abdellatif Ouisa, a Germany-based Muslim Dawah influencer, posted a video of himself reciting a Surah from the Quran in front of the revered Bhagwan Murugan statue at Batu Caves temple in Malaysia. The video, which criticises idol worship, has garnered lakhs of views on TikTok and thousands more on Instagram and Facebook, drawing sharp criticism from the Hindu community.

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.