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 4 September to 10 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 girl, 14, was found hanging from a tree in Jharkhand’s Dumka early Friday morning. She was raped and murdered by Arman Ansari, a construction worker, who has been arrested.
2) In Tamil Nadu, Congress put up ‘secular Ganesh pandals’ reportedly to compete with Hindu organisations. The district committee which organised it said that Christians and Muslims will take part in the celebrations and processions to protect religious harmony.
3) Stones were pelted at a procession of Ganesha murti passing through a Muslim-majority area in Gujarat. The tempo carrying the murti was pelted with stones and 13 persons were detained by police. After police lathi-charged the stone pelters the murti was taken to the pandal safely.
4) Hindu Shakti Dal’s national President Simran Gupta has lodged an FIR with the Delhi Police for receiving a death threat for reportedly filing applications against unknown and known persons who have threatened right-wing activists.
5) A 39-year-old gym owner in Lucknow has been arrested for marrying a woman by allegedly concealing his identity and posing as a Hindu man, Police said.
6) In a gruesome incident in Pondicherry, a Christian woman poisoned because he outperformed her daughter in academics and extracurricular activities. The woman had mixed rat poison with soft drinks to deceive the boy. Unfortunately, he passed away as the treatment failed.
7) Another case of Love Jihad was recently unearthed in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. A woman has filed a complaint against one Aslam, who hid his identity as ‘Sanjay’ and married her, after which he started forcing her to convert to Islam. An FIR has been filed against the accused, but he has not yet been arrested.
8) Ahmedabad youth Hitesh Rathod was murdered and his family accuses his Muslim wife’s family which was pressurising Hitesh to convert.
9) A 21-year-old man, Aas Mohammad, who posed himself as an army personnel Ashu Rana and befriended a class XII student by hiding his religious identity was arrested for stalking her and posting vulgar messages on social media after she broke her friendship with him.
10) Girl students of a Christian nursing institute in Tamil Nadu have accused the management of forcing them to attend prayer meetings. Allegations of not conducting classes properly have also been levelled against the institute.
11) DMK IT wing head TRB Rajaa shared a video mocking Savarkar in which Bhagwan Vishnu was denigrated.
12) Complaints have come up against officials of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Endowment(TNHRCE) board that they ate non-vegetarian food on a temple’s yatri Nivas premises violating the Veg-only rule. A video of the officials being served chicken, fish and eggs has gone viral on social media.
13) A gaurakshak identified as Rajesh Kumar Dwivedi was found dead in the village temple on the morning of September 3. His family has alleged that Rajesh was murdered.
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) A Hindu man died after jumping into a septic well, reportedly to escape the rage of a policeman who was running after him to beat him at Tando Mohammad Khan in Pakistan’s Hyderabad.
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) Ahakil Devnath is the latest victim of blasphemy at Chandpur’s Saharasti (Tweet archived here).
2) In targeted harassment, local Awami League student wing members Mahabub Alam Bohiya filed a blasphemy case against Pritam Das at Srimangol, Shylet on September 4 (Tweet archived here).
3) More than three homes were destroyed and looted in an attack on the minority Hindus on September 6 (Tweet archived here).
World
1) After racist tirades and temple vandalisms in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, now an actual physical assault has been reported on a Hindu neighbourhood of Leicester, UK by what seem to be Pakistani-origin British Islamist gangs, in the wake of the India-Pakistan T20 cricket match on August 28.
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.