Muslim mob attacks Hindu devotees returning from Ganesh immersion, raise 'Islam Zindabad', 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans
Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, India 
15 September, 2024
Case Summary
In Farrukkabad, Uttar Pradesh, Hindu devotees returning from Ganesh immersion were attacked. As they passed through a Muslim area, Muslims abused them and threw stones at the devotees. Eyewitnesses reported that slogans like "Islam Zindabad" and "Pakistan Zindabad" were raised during the attack. The entire incident was captured on CCTV. The attack took place after the devotees had completed their Ganesh Visarjan rituals. The situation escalated quickly, causing tension in the area. Local authorities were informed, and the police began investigating the incident to identify those involved.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
In this case, a religious procession of Hindus came under attack by a Muslim mob which pelted stones and hurled abuses at the devotees. The outward celebration and display of religious symbols in an intrinsic part of Hinduism. Religious processions on various festivals are age-old traditions and a way to manifest faith and form a part of the religious practices of Hindus. On several occasions, such religious processions come under attack by non-Hindu mobs, in a manifestation of their animosity towards Hinduism and their practices. The reasons cited for such violent attacks are many and range from crossing a non-Hindu resident-dominated area to playing loud music, crossing from an area where there is a religious structure of another faith etc. The violent attacks are triggered by the outward display of religiosity by Hindus. The attacks are mainly a manifestation of religious supremacist doctrine which believes that idolatry, essentially the Hindu faith, is one that deserves to be annihilated since the very tenets of Hinduism, its practices and traditions are considered a sin in those doctrines. Since these attacks emanate from intrinsic and doctrinal animosity towards Hindus and Hinduism, it is considered a religiously motivated hate crime under this category. Another important thread, in this case, is that the religious procession came under attack when it was crossing a "Muslim area" - which is to say - that the area had a Muslim majority population. One of the reasons that Hindus get attacked unprovoked specifically by Islamists is for crossing ‘Muslim areas’. Essentially, Muslim mobs often attack Hindus crossing or present in certain areas which have a majority Muslim population. It has often been cited as one of the reasons to blame Hindus for attacks against themselves, signalling that Hindus displaying religious symbols, taking our religious processions or crossing any area which is dominated by Muslim residents is a provocation in and of itself. These areas are mostly ghettoized areas where mobs mobilize quickly to attack Hindus for a variety of reasons like playing music during a religious procession, crossing a mosque, wearing a tilak or any other religious symbol in a Muslim-dominated area, praying at a local temple in that area etc. There have been cases where the few local Hindus of that area have been attacked on their way to the Temple for prayers as well, simply because the area is considered a Muslim-dominated area. Several times, it is entirely possible that the immediate trigger for the violence against Hindus was non-religious in nature, however, the violence became religiously motivated in nature because the area was Muslim dominated and the residents on the whole harboured animosity towards Hindus, evidenced from the actions of the mob, the slogans, and the nature of the attack. Such crimes are motivated by the religious identity of the victims and are therefore classified as hate crimes under this category. The attack on the Hindu religious procession had multiple threads of religious animosity leading to the violence against Hindus. First, the Muslim mob pelted stones at the devotees peacefully carrying out their own procession. The attack was unprovoked in nature and the Hindu devotees had done nothing which could be branded as provocation leading to the violence by the Muslim mob. The unprovoked attack was driven by intrinsic and doctrinal religious animosity which also stemmed from the fact that the Hindu procession was crossing an area which had a Muslim-majority population. In areas with a majority Muslim population, Hindus often face hostility since the tenets of Islam harbour antagonism towards the Hindu faith and the adherents of Hinduism. Such religious and doctrinal animosity manifests in violence against Hindu devotees when religious processions pass areas with a Muslim majority. Since the violence was a product of religious animosity, this case is being categorised as a religiously motivated hate crime. Further, this particular case has also been added under the category of- Hate speech against Hindus under which, the sub-category of- Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith has been selected due to the anti-Hindu slogans raised by the Islamists. Anti-Hindu slurs and the deliberate mocking of the Hindu faith owing to religious animosity involve the usage of derogatory terms, stereotypes, or offensive references to religious practices, symbols, or figures. One of the common anti-Hindu slurs used against Hindus is “cow-worshipper” and “cow piss drinker”. The intention of using this term is to demean and mock Hindus as a group and their religious beliefs since Hindus consider the cow holy. Additionally, some symbols and the slurs attached to them have a historical context that exacerbates the insult, hate, stereotyping, dehumanisation and oppression against Hindus. Cow worship has been used for centuries to denigrate Hindus, insult their faith and oppress Hindus specifically as a religious group. There has been overwhelming documentation about how cow slaughter has been used to persecute Hindus with cow meat being thrown in temples and places of worship. There has also been overwhelming documentation where cow meat (beef) has been force-fed to Hindus to either forcefully convert them to Islam or denigrate their faith. Apart from cow worship, the Swastika – which holds deep religious significance for the Hindus – has also been misinterpreted and distorted to use as a slur against Hindus. Similarly, the worship of the Shivling has been used by supremacist ideologies and religions to denigrate Hindus owing to religious animosity. Such slurs and denigration stem out of inherent animosity and hate towards Hindus and their faith, therefore, it is categorised as hate speech targeted at Hindus specifically owing to their religious identity. Here, slogans of Islam Zindabad and Pakistan Zindabad were raised. It may be said that the slogan of Pakistan Zindabad can be considered anti-India and pro-Pakistan, but not anti-Hindu. However, raising slogans such as Pakistan Zindabad does not only show pro-Pakistan sentiments but also, anti-Hindu sentiments. It is pertinent to note that Muslim extremists harbour specific animosity towards Hindus and their faith and also view India as a Hindu collectivity. The very basis of the partition of India was that the Muslims believed that Islam was a nation unto itself, which could not survive with a Hindu collectivity like India. Further, Muslims often believe in transnational unity - or the Ummah - which is a belief that all Muslims across the world are a nation unto themselves and therefore, loyalty as far as the nation-state is concerned lies with the Muslim collectivity and not with a Hindu collectivity like India. This would also mean that the slogan Pakistan Zindabad is about hailing a Muslim collectivity and an expression of transnational loyalty and anti-Hindu sentiments. For that reason, any slogan which expresses transnational loyalty and faith in the Ummah is automatically a slogan against Hindus and Hindu collectivity and cases, like this one, where Islamists raised such anti-Hindu slogans along with attacking Hindu devotees deserve to be included in the tracker.
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
