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 28 August to 3 September 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 16-year-old Hindu girl was shot at by stalker Arman Ali near her home in Sangam Vihar, South Delhi. The bullet hit her shoulder and she is being treated in a private hospital’s intensive care unit.

2) The Madras High Court has directed a Hindu petitioner to obtain consent from the local jamaat before installing a Ganesh pandal.

3) Ankita was set on fire by her stalker neighbour Shahrukh Hussain.

4) Another plaintiff in the Shringar Gauri-Gyanvapi mosque dispute case claimed to receive threatening calls from international numbers.

5) In a new grooming case, Vadodara police booked Izhar Kalusha Dewan for blackmailing a Hindu girl using pictures and video of her private parts he had taken during a video. He forced the girl into a physical relationship by threatening to make the pictures and video shot during the call viral.

6) On Saturday (August 27) night, a minor Hindu girl was abducted and gang-raped. The girl was being taken to Bangladesh by her abductors but police chased and managed to recover her near the Bangladesh border. Police have reportedly arrested 4 men – Suleman Ali, Rahim Uddin, Nasir Uddin and Chhair Uddin.

7) A teenager has been arrested in Lucknow for stalking a 14-year-old girl and then holding her hostage near a commercial complex.

8) A woman engineer in Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur district has been raped by a contractor named Suhail Khan. The victim is working as a Junior Engineer (JE) in Jal Nigam (Rural), in which the accused works as a contractor. Khan used to call the victim his ‘sister’, and she had been tying rakhi to him for several years.

9) After a 24-days-long investigation, the Nainital police have solved the mystery of Anjali Arya’s disappearance. The police have also arrested her “lover” Mohammad Yameen Ahmed. The accused had killed Anjali by slitting her throat because she was asking him to marry her after their courtship.

10) An SC (Scheduled Caste) man was brutally thrashed by a Muslim mob in Bihar’s Madhubani. As per reports, the man was assaulted on suspicion of theft by Mohammad Akram, Mohammad Munna, and others. The case came to light after its video went viral on social media.

11) Ten Cows of a temple Gaushala in Jalna’s Partur Taluka’s Amba village were electrocuted by Latif Shaikh (Tweet archived here). 6 cows and 4 calves were killed in the heart-wrenching incident that occurred on August 26. The villagers were upset as the incident took place on Bail Pola day and hence, they didn’t celebrate the festival meant to worship and thank the cattle.

12) Days after 17-year-old Ankita’s brutal death at the hands of Shahrukh Hussain, three brothers, Irfan, Irshad, and Israr, have been held for murdering 19-year-old Ankit Gautam. The incident was reported from Padriya Chet Singh village under Ruthauli Police Station, District Basti, Uttar Pradesh, on Friday, August 26.

13) At least 50 Hindu SC (Mahadalit) families from a village in Jharkhand’s Palamu district were attacked and driven out of their homes by members of the Muslim community in the area.

14) The vanvasi (‘tribal’) community in the Tamiya block has filed a complaint against Christian missionaries who have been converting people in the name of “medical treatment.”

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.

1) In a shocking incident from Dec 2021 that went virtually unnoticed, an 8-year-old Kavita was brutally gang raped in Umarkot, Sindh province of Pakistan. The rapists scratched her entire face and gouged her eyes. She was taken to the hospital, still bleeding and in critical condition.

2) Arjun Kohli appears to be the latest victim (Tweet archived here) of persecution of minorities in Islamic Pakistan. His dead body was fished out by Mirpurkhas Sindh villagers with Kohli’s hands and feet tied. A neck was found around the neck and there were signs of strangulation as well.

3) A young Hindu girl was gang-raped for 2 days in a flood-hit area of Sindh, Pakistan, on the pretext of being given food.

Bangladesh

Attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh are relentless and designed to gradually cleanse the religious minority from the country. 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 some tools used to intimidate and drive Hindus out.

1) Islamists are destroying the livelihood of poor Hindus in Bangladesh.

2) Bhagwan Ganesh murti was vandalized in Chittagong on August 30 (Tweet archived here).

3) Hindu temple and homes were attacked on September 1 in Dhaka’s Nawabganj (Tweet archived here).

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, but 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 dropping an email to [email protected]. We also solicit support in maintaining the Hindu human rights tracker database.