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 23 June to 29 June 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 case of love jihad has surfaced from Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district. Shahrukh pretended to be Rohit to trap a Hindu girl with the help of his friend Junaid. He pressurised and threatened her to convert to Islam and marry him. Both the accused were arrested.
2) Amid the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur, a truck was set on fire on Wednesday (19 June) by a mob of Kuki extremists after learning that the owner of the vehicle was a Meitei. The incident occurred in the Kangpokpi district of Manipur when the truck was en route to Dimapur.
3) In a terrifying incident from Madhya Pradesh’s Dewas district, a violent uproar ensued in the Udaynagar police station area following the abduction of a young Janjatiya woman, reportedly by Islamist Sahil. Enraged by the kidnapping, a large mob vandalized several houses and vehicles, leading to a tense situation in the locality.
4) In a troubling incident that unfolded at Sibpur village in Cachar’s Lakhipur, Mannan Ali, a resident of the Binnakandi area, was accused of abducting a minor Hindu girl. Ali was arrested after an encounter with the police.
5) A severed head of a calf was found near the Gupta Colony in Delhi’s Sangam Vihar area, which created a stir among the Hindus in the area. It is being said that severed body parts of cows have been found many times before this. The police force is investigating the incident by checking CCTV footage, and local people have been appealed to maintain peace.
6) A horrific case of abduction and gang rape has come from the Majbat area of the Udalguri district of Assam. Five Islamists allegedly abducted and gang-raped a minor Hindu girl. The Police arrested all of them. The arrested Islamists are Mustaq Ahmed, Mohidul Islam, Hafizul Ali, Saddam Ali and Ehsan Ahmed.
7) A group of Hindu students from Vikram University in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain has accused their Islamist Chemistry professor, Anis Shaikh, of deliberately awarding them poor grades owing to their religion, encouraging religious conversion, and misbehaving with female students. The students, who are affiliated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS’s) student wing, had initially made a verbal complaint against their professor Anis Shaikh to the university vice-chancellor.
8) A troubling case of rape and threats has emerged in Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Ghaziabad. Shah Alam trapped a married Hindu woman who was already a mother and having issues with her husband. Shah Alam initially told the woman his name was Sahil and began a relationship with her. Over the next 7-8 years, he raped and molested her under the promise of marriage.
9) Madhya Pradesh Police arrested Islamist Mohammed Salman for molesting a Hindu minor girl in Dhar. The incident reportedly took place as the girl was returning home from school, and Salman intercepted her along the way and subjected her to molestation.
10) A serious case of grooming jihad has emerged from Badaun district in Uttar Pradesh. Islamist Ajim Ali coerced a Hindu girl into accepting Islam and marrying her. He reportedly forced her to consume meat against her vegetarian beliefs, taught her religious texts, and took her to shrines forcefully. When she resisted, she was allegedly assaulted by the Islamist perpetrator. The incident occurred in Kotwali Nagar.
11) In the Rampur district of Uttar Pradesh, several Madrasa students vandalised a murti of Hanuman ji on June 26. The murti was installed in Ramayana Park, located near Panwaria in the Civil Lines area. The incident quickly drew a crowd as word spread. Akash Saxena, the city’s MLA, also visited the site.
12) In Madhya Pradesh’s Burhanpur district, a medical shop worker named Sumit Jadhav was attacked by several Muslim youths, including Mohammad Ramzan and his son Altaf, over an Instagram story put up by Sumit. The incident left Sumit Jadhav and three others injured.
13) In a shocking case of Islamic radicalisation, a minor Hindu boy in a Bihar village was beaten up by his Muslim classmates with demands to chant glory to the Muslim community and Islam. He was assaulted and forced to chant ‘Allahu Akbar’ and ‘Miyan Zindabad’ slogans by classmates. The incident came to light after the video of the assault went viral.
14) A distressing case of love jihad and sexual assault has emerged in the Ankur Vihar area of Ghaziabad. The incident involves a man named Sameer, who concealed his religious identity to marry a Hindu woman and subsequently raped her. When the woman discovered the truth, she was brutally assaulted for protesting.
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) Unidentified miscreants targeted a Kali Mata temple in Kedarkhil village under the Sayedpur union of Sitakunda. The perpetrators entered the temple around midnight by breaking the gate lock. They took valuable gold and silver ornaments from the Vigraha. They also broke the temple’s donation box and took all its money.
2) A case of Islamic conversion is coming from the Sylhet district of Bangladesh. A Hindu family of Habiganj Upazila has become a victim of the conversion gang. According to the reports, Shambhu Das lived in Habiganj with his three minor sons. A few months back, an Islamic conversion gang targeted him. Shambhu was brainwashed.
The matter came to light after the girl reached home and disclosed the incident to her parents, prompting them to file a police complaint. The police authorities swiftly detained Islamist Salman and launched a thorough investigation into the case.
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.
