Hindu boy intimidated and threatened, booked after hundreds of students accuse him of insulting Islam

Case ID : 0b66d42 | Location : Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 5 June, 2024

Case ID : 0b66d42

Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India

5 June, 2024

Hindu boy intimidated and threatened, booked after hundreds of students accuse him of insulting Islam

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked over 'Blasphemy'

Case Summary

On June 6, 2024, the Jammu and Kashmir Police registered an FIR against a student from Government Medical College in Srinagar for posting "blasphemous" content regarding Prophet Mohammad. Police action followed demonstrations by hundreds of students at GMC Srinagar, who accused the non-local student of making blasphemous remarks on social media. The protestors raised “our prophet out pride” slogans among others. GMC Srinagar suspended the accused student immediately, pending an inquiry by a committee comprising 13 department heads. The college urged everyone to maintain peace on the campus. In response to the unrest, undergraduate classes at GMC Srinagar were suspended from Thursday to Saturday, while NIT also suspended classes on June 6, allowing students residing off-campus to enter. The accused non-local student faced charges under IPC Sections 153, 153A, 295A, and 505(2) for promoting enmity, disharmony based on religion, and insulting religious beliefs.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

Blasphemy essentially refers to the desecration of anything which is held sacred/holy to a group of people. However, for religious supremacist groups, the elements of ‘blasphemy’ are ever-changing, shifting and expanding – leading to infringement on the rights of other religious groups, freedom of speech and expression, threats and even physical violence. There are instances where blasphemy is also used as a dog whistle to target Hindus owing to intrinsic animosity towards Hinduism. There are several instances where stating truths as mentioned in the non-Hindu doctrine itself has led to unmitigated violence against Hindus. There have also been instances where non-Hindus have themselves created a ‘blasphemous’ situation, like placing a Quran in a temple, to use it as an excuse to attack Hindus. Essentially, Blasphemy charges are often made up and/or are used to shut down any form of criticism of non-Hindu faiths and as a tool to target Hindus. Any physical violence over Blasphemy charges against Hindus are foundationally based on animosity for Hindus and their faith owing to religious supremacist ideologies, therefore, such attacks would be documented as religious motivated hate crimes under this category.