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 true depth and breadth of these attacks, driven by disturbing anti-Hindu bigotry, have been ignored by the world. From murders, forced conversions, land grabs, assault on festivals, desecration of temples and murtis, hate speech, 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 September to 25 September 2021, we hope to provide a snapshot of such crimes and hopefully awaken more people around the world to this human rights crisis:
Bharat
1) Mohammed Akhtar Hussain, a married man with children, from Siliguri has been arrested by West Bengal police on account of two murders. Both the victims are Hindu women with who the accused had relationships and later killed in cold blood.
2) Attacking Hindu rituals in the garb of making a feminist point has become a trend these days and multiple brands have been hopping on the bash-Hindu-rituals bandwagon. Taking no notes from Tanishq’s ad fiascos, clothing brand Manyavar took to hurting Hindu religious sentiments through their latest commercial.
3) A Hindu man was assaulted in Bengaluru for giving a ride to the Muslim woman working with him. 2 Muslim youngsters involved in the incident have been arrested after the woman lodged a complaint with the police for harassing her. The woman had requested her colleague to drop her at home as it was late and they encountered the stalkers around 9.20 pm near Dairy Circle, Bengaluru.
4) A married Sikh woman was lured into a live-in relationship by a Muslim truck driver. When the woman started to pressure him for marriage, he decided to get rid of her in the most cold-blooded way.
5) 17-year-old Yogesh Jatav finally succumbed to his injuries after fighting for his life for three days. On September 15, the Hindu SC youth from Alwar was lynched by a Muslim mob. They accused him of hitting a Muslim girl while riding his bike. However, as detailed reports reveal, he was only trying to skirt a pothole and accidentally brushed the girl in the Meena Ka Baas area.
6) A Hindu man from an SC/ST community was abducted and assaulted by five Muslim men in Telangana’s Nizamabad district. The incident took place on September 8, but local police took cognizance of the matter only on September 11.
7) The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Wednesday arrested Islamic scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui from Meerut on charges of religious conversation.
8) Former Minister and BJP MLA Goolihatti Shekar has demanded action against Christian missionaries stating “Christian missionaries are indulging in rampant religious conversions in Hosadurga constituency. They have got as many as 18 to 20,000 people converted to Christianity from the Hindu religion. The Christian missionaries have converted my mother and she has been told not to wear ‘kumkum’ (Vermillion) on forehead”.
9) Uttar Pradesh Ballia district District Magistrate IAS officer Aditi Singh has effectively banned Hindu festivals by imposing section 144 for the next two months. As many Hindu festivals like Navratri, Bhai Dhooj and Diwali are approaching in these two months, the move has been widely criticised. On the other hand the Delhi government has shown the way for other state governments by enforcing a complete ban on “storage, sale and use of firecrackers”.
10) A case of religious discrimination against a Hindu student named Pawan Sen at the hands of his Muslim teacher Nishat Begum has been reported from the Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh. The teacher at Government New Boys Secondary School, Garatganj allegedly used some Muslim boys from outside the school to beat up the victim, an 8th standard student. His ‘crime’ was that even after objections from the teacher, he used to go to school wearing a tilak.
11) A Hindu youth, Harendra Yadav, was abducted and brutally thrashed by a Muslim mob in village Budhirampur of Maharajganj district, Uttar Pradesh. When police came to rescue him, they too were attacked.
12) In a shocking case, a minor girl ended her life after harassment by her teacher, Usman, who had been sending her inappropriate messages on social media.
13) An old Hindu woman who has been running from pillar to post to get justice for her daughter who was murdered 4 years back, is now being threatened with further harm by the accused Salman and his father Sajid Ali. On 19 September 2021, Uma Shukla has approached ADG, UP police to protect her from the killers of her daughter Rachna Shukla.
14) In an unsurprising move the DMK government has included Kanimozhi MP, an atheist and Geeta Jeevan, a Christian MLA in the committee for establishing educational institutions using temple money. Earlier the HRCE minister had announced that schools and colleges will be built on temple lands to get income. It was opposed by Hindus as the government would be running the schools and colleges as secular institutions.
Pakistan
1) A Hindu man Hamshu Kachhi was shot dead by unidentified armed men in goth Shahmir, Mutiari, Tando Allahayar, Sindh on 22 September.
2) 14-year-old Hindu girl Jivi bai,daughter of Teju Mall was alledgely abducted for rape and conversion to Islam from Goth in Sindh. Reports say police refused to help.
Bangladesh
1) Bangladesh’s Supreme Court on Thursday granted conditional bail to Jhumon Das, a Hindu minority victim of militants, in a case lodged against him under the Digital Security Act for an “objectionable” post on social media against a Hefazat-e-Islam leader.
2) A group of Muslims brutally attacked Hindu rights movement leader Raju Singh at Jaintapur P.S. Habiganj district on 19 September.
3) Hindu teacher Ranajit Dhar was assaulted by Islamists at Bahobal P.S. Habiganj district.
4) Muslims vandalized a Hindu temple and beheaded murtis at Aduyapara, Khustia Sadar P.S Khustia district on 21 September.
5) Hindu girl Purnima Das was gang raped and brutally murdered at Devhata P.S, Shatkira district on 22 September.
6) Muslims vandalized a Hindu temple and murtis at Douladhiya P.S Chowadanga district on 23 September.
7) Muslims vandalized a Hindu temple and murtis at Shuktara, Sadar P.S Joypurhat district on 25 September.
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 obvious, 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, but the double standards at play become clear 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 dropping an email to [email protected]. We also solicit support in the maintenance of the Hindu human rights tracker database started by us.