Case Summary

In the Giraura village of Bulandshahr, a Hindu religious procession, shobha yatra, and its devotees were violently attacked by a Muslim mob over a minor dispute. According to the victim, Sajeev Kumar, who organised the Shobha yatra, when the Shobha yatra reached near the mosque, a dispute broke out over the playing of the DJ. During this time, the sound of the DJ was lowered. However, some Muslims got offended and started attacking the devotees with sticks and stones. Muslims became violent and even attacked female devotees, due to which some got injured. Muslims further abused them and threatened to kill them, after which they fled. As of the date of writing this report, a FIR was registered by the police against Khurshid, Zeeshan, Sajid, Saddam and Asif along with some unidentified individuals. The investigation was ongoing.

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Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of: - Attack not resulting in death. Within it, the sub-category selected is: - 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. The other sub-category relevant here is: - Attack against Hindu devotees. Hindu devotees are a few of the easiest targets of religiously motivated hate crimes because during the festival/procession/puja etc, for non-Hindus it is easy to profile their victims on the basis of religion. Hindu devotees come under attack on several occasions by individual non-Hindus or mobs of non-Hindus owing to their animosity against Hinduism, its symbols and tradition/practices. There are several instances of Hindu devotees being attacked while they worship in temples or temporary religious structures, during religious processions, doing bhajan/kirtan/puja in their own homes, in the residential society etc. These attacks are perpetrated by non-Hindus primarily because of their animosity towards Hindus and their faith. In some cases, the trigger for the violence may be non-religious, however, there are two elements that make these hate crimes. First, the Hindus who come under attack are attacked violently while indulging in religious activity. Whether they are in a place of worship or not is immaterial to the crime. When individuals are attacked while indulging in religious practices, the attack in itself is a hindrance to their freedom to practice religion and therefore constitutes a hate crime. Secondly, religious supremacist doctrines and ideologies deem religious practices of Hindus to be offensive ab initio since they are considered “sinful” by these ideologies, worthy to be annihilated by force or coercion. Driven by these religious supremacist ideologies and doctrines, the attacks against Hindu devotees stem from intrinsic animosity towards Hinduism. In some cases, the trigger for the violence may be non-religious, however, it develops into a religiously motivated crime during the course of the violence. Since these attacks stem from animosity towards Hindus and Hinduism, they are considered religiously motivated hate crimes under this category. The third sub-category relevant here is- Attacked for crossing 'Muslim area' 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. This case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu religious procession was violently attacked by a Muslim mob when it reached near the mosque. Devotees, including women, were violently assaulted with stones and sticks following a minor disagreement regarding the volume of the DJ, even though the volume had already been lowered before the procession arrived in the vicinity of the mosque. Thus, the scuffle over the DJ volume was only a pretext to launch a violent attack on Hindus. The Hindus were attacked simply because the religious procession was passing in front of the mosque. Their only ‘offence’ was the public expression of the Hindu faith in an area where there is a mosque. This sense of entitlement and superiority, that no religious displays should be allowed in areas where there is a mosque, reveals an attempt to assert religious dominance in the area. The unprovoked and violent nature of this attack was driven by intrinsic and doctrinal religious animosity towards the Hindu faith. It is important to note that the attack happened near a mosque, an area that would typically have a high Muslim population. In many such areas, Hindus often face hostility for any outward display of their religious identity. The DJ sound was merely a convenient excuse; what truly offended the attackers was the very presence of a Hindu religious procession passing through ‘their’ area. Such attacks are a form of symbolic aggression against the Hindu community that stems from an innate hatred for Hinduism. Given that the fundamental motivation behind these actions is contempt for Hindus and their religion, this instance has been added to the tracker under the following category