Stones pelted at Ganpati immersion procession by Muslim mob

Case ID : 04aee89 | Location : Ramanuj Ganj, Chhattisgarh, India | Date of Incident : Mon, 16 September, 2024

Case ID : 04aee89

Ramanuj Ganj, Chhattisgarh, India

16 September, 2024

Stones pelted at Ganpati immersion procession by Muslim mob

Attack not resulting in death

Attack on religious procession

Attack against Hindu devotees

Case Summary

In Ara village, Balrampur, Chhattisgarh, Muslims pelted stones at a Ganpati immersion procession. During the attack, a 15-year-old Hindu girl named Sheela Yadav was severely injured. The incident sparked outrage among the villagers, who gathered at the Bariyon police station, demanding strict action against the attackers. Following the complaint, Rajpur police in charge, Bhardwaj Singh, confirmed that a case was registered against four individuals: Hashib, Imam, Ittakhab, and Islam.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case is being added to the primary category 'attack not resulting in death' under the sub-category 'attack on religious procession'. 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. In this case, a Hindu religious procession for Ganpati immersion was attacked by a Muslim mob resulting in severely injuring a minor girl. Religious processions are often attacked by Muslims extremists because the very representation of Hindu faith is considered antithetical to Islam and one of the doctrinal mandates of Islam is to break idols, convert non-Muslims or kill them. The religious animosity stems from scriptural hostility towards Hindus, Hinduism and its representations and therefore, this case is being added to the hate crime database.