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, 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 3 July to 9 July 2022, 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 group of miscreants attacked Vicky Bharadwaj with a sharp weapon in the Palwal district of Haryana. The incident occurred on Tuesday, June 28, when Vicky was returning from Delhi. He was attacked by the accused persons near the Golaya Public School in Palwal. These miscreants ferociously stabbed Vicky and tore open his chest. The victim was immediately rushed to the hospital and has since been under treatment. Reports suggest the attackers have been identified as Bilal and Anjum.
2) 21-year-old LLB student Yash Rastogi in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut has been brutally murdered by his gay Muslim friends. Police have arrested Salman, Shahvez, Ali, and Imran in the matter.
3) Hurting Hindu sentiments has become par for the course. Recently a poster of Maa Kaali smoking a cigarette was released by a filmmaker named Leena Manimekalai. Hindus red-flagged the so-called ‘performance documentary’ after Manimekalai released the poster on Twitter of her film titled Kaali on July 2.
4) A 22-year-old youth in Nagpur had merely posted a short video supporting Nupur Sharma. The barrage of threats he and his family received after that compelled them to leave the city hurriedly a fortnight ago.
5) Islamists are employing newer methods to unleash terror in Bharat. It has now come to light that the Silchar flooding was a man-made disaster and Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sharma has promised to take strict action against the perpetrators.
6) Arun Kattimani, Hindu Jagaran Vedike District Secretary, and two of his friends were stabbed and assaulted with iron rods by Islamists.
7) A 16-year-old girl from Mumbai posted in support of Kanhaiyalal Teli, the tailor from Udaipur who was recently beheaded by two jihadis, after Kanhaiyalal’s Muslim neighbor painted a target on his back. Just for this, she received a death threat over a WhatsApp call from an unknown person.
8) The media reported another gruesome end to a grooming jihad story from Thrissur. Arshad (27) from Thrissur pushed out Ernakulam native Pratheeksha (22) from his running car. The victim is now fighting for her life at Thrissur Medical College Hospital and has been seriously injured.
9) Rajasthan Police on Thursday arrested high court lawyer’s clerk (munshi) Sohail Khan from Jodhpur for threatening a Hindu colleague who supported Nupur Sharma. The arrest comes after another lawyer’s munshi lodged a complaint with Rajasthan High Court Clerks Association demanding security.
10) On Wednesday (June 29), TV actress and MTV Roadies contestant Niharika Tiwari received death threats for supporting Nupur Sharma.
11) On Sunday, July 3, a shopkeeper named Talib Hussain was arrested for selling chicken wrapped in paper bearing images of Hindu deities. He is also charged with attacking the police officers who reached his shop to arrest him.
12) Islamists continue to issue threats to social media users for any hint of support for former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. In one such incident, one Ahmedabad-based lawyer received threats for life after he used an image of Nupur Sharma as his WhatsApp status picture for just three minutes.
13) Amid the VVIP presence in Kanpur Dehat, at least six persons were injured after a communal flare-up in a locality of Kanpur Nagar as members of the minority community clashed with the majority community people and also the police.
Bangladesh
Attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh are relentless and designed to gradually cleanse the religious minority from the country. As per a study by Prof. Abul Barakat of Dhaka University, there will be no Hindus 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 some of the tools used to intimidate and drive Hindus out.
1) Ganesh Saha is the latest victim of Islamist attack in Bangladesh (Tweet archived)
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.