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 01 December to 07 December 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) Activists from the Hindu Seva Kendram have accused the Kerala Police’s Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of targeting them under the pretext of a “data collection exercise.” Over the past month, they allege, ATS officers have repeatedly called, interrogated, and visited the homes and offices of their members.

2) Kolkata police arrested a Bangladeshi national on charges of illegal entry into India and possession of forged identification documents. The man identified as Salim Matabbar was living in India for over two years using the name Ravi Sharma. He was working in a hotel in central Calcutta’s Marquis Street.

3) A tragic incident unfolded in the Uttaran police station area of Prayagraj district, Uttar Pradesh, where the body of a 16-year-old student, Shailesh Kumar Yadav, was discovered in a gruesome condition near his house. The teenager, a 9th-standard student, was found with his head crushed and his body soaked in blood. A blood-stained axe, a mobile phone, and a pair of slippers were also recovered from the scene. The murder is believed to be connected to Shailesh’s relationship with an Islamic girl from his village. Police have detained five Islamist individuals, including the girl’s parents, grandfather, and another youth, for questioning.

4) In a major development, the All Tripura Hotel & Restaurant Owners’ Association (ATHROA) resolved to ban serving guests from Bangladesh. The Association took this decision in the wake of the disrespect for the Indian flag and atrocities against minority Hindus by Bangladeshi Islamists.

5) Wikipedia, the so-called “encyclopaedia,” has created a dedicated page on the Sambhal violence that took place on 24th November 2024 during the court-ordered survey of Jama Masjid. In its description of the events, Wikipedia claimed that “some people accompanying the court-appointed survey commission at the mosque chanted ‘Jai Shri Ram’ to provoke Muslims” and that the video of the incident went viral on social media. The claims were attributed to opposition MPs.

6) In a shocking incident in Morena, Madhya Pradesh, a woman and her lover have been arrested for the murder of her 13-year-old son. The boy, identified as Sitaram, had discovered his mother’s illicit relationship with an Islamist man named Mohammad Rafiq Khan, who runs a tyre puncture repair shop. In a desperate bid to cover up her affair, the woman, Kalawati, allegedly instructed her lover to eliminate her son.

7) In a gruesome act of violence, 37-year-old Vinay Oraon was brutally murdered with an axe by a group of armed assailants in his parental home in Jilinga village under Dumardeeh Panchayat. The attackers were identified as Ansari, Lala Miyan and four other accomplices.

8) A major love jihad conspiracy has been exposed in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore. The authorities have arrested a Muslim man on the complaint of a Hindu organization. The man was found to have four Aadhaar Cards with different names including Samir Qureshi, Arif Qureshi and Samir Singh. He was also revealed to have contacts in Pakistan. His mobile had chats and calls from Pakistani numbers.

9) In a highly outrageous incident that violates international laws, a few personnel from Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) sneaked into Bharat to stop the renovation of a Mandir, claiming that the sight of the Manidr would offend Bangladesh’s Muslims and trigger violence there.

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) Amidst the ongoing persecution of minorities in Bangladesh, social media platforms are rife with posts calling for the total annihilation of Hindus. Islamists on Facebook and X are sharing pictures bearing the religious slur TMD or Total Malaun Death, with Malaun being a dehumanising reference to Hindus.

2) Attacks on the Mandirs continue in Muhammad Yunus-led Bangladesh. Islamists have been regularly targeting the Mandirs and ashrams. A group of Islamists entered the Patharghata locality and attacked the Shantaneswari Temple. They broke the gate of the temple and threw bricks at the Murti. Due to the attack, the parts of the Murti were vandalised. Another group of Islamists went to the Patharghata Jagatbandhu Ashram and pelted stones at the Ashram and Mandir located inside the Ashram.

3) Bangladesh’s immigration police returned 54 members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) who possessed valid travel documents and wanted to cross into Bharat from the Benapole border checkpoint.

4) Amid the ongoing Islamist onslaught on religious minorities in Bangladesh, a Bharatiya man named Sayan Ghosh narrated how he was assaulted in the Islamic country over his religious identity.

5) In a major blow to ISKCON priest Chinmoy Krishna Das, none of the lawyers came forward to represent him before a Bangladeshi court. Consequently, his bail plea case has been deferred to next month. Chinmoy Krishna Das’s associate at Sammilita Sanatani Jagaran Jote Swatantra Gauranga Das alleged that no lawyer represented the Hindu leader owing to threats from a “politically motivated lawyers’ group”.

6) Hindu houses and mandirs were vandalized in Doarabazar over an alleged ‘blasphemous’ comment on Facebook.

7) Islamists attacked a Kali Mata Mandir in the Netrakona district. The Murti of Kali Mata was also vandalised completely.

World

1) Pro-Khalistan elements protested against the Bharatiya government outside the Lakshmi Narayan Temple in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, despite court orders prohibiting such activities. The Khalistanis protested outside the temple while Bharatya consulates in Canada conducted annual consular camps to assist elderly Bharatiya nationals living in Canada by providing life certificates.

2) Upset Hindus are urging Bentonville (Arkansas, USA), headquartered multinational retail corporation Walmart, for immediate withdrawal of all 74 varieties of underwear carrying the image of Hindu deity Ganesh, calling it highly inappropriate.

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.