Cow slaughter video shared on social media, 6 Muslims arrested

Case ID : 152deda | Location : Guwahati, Assam, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 21 January, 2025
Case ID : 152deda
location Guwahati, Assam, India
date 21 January, 2025
Cow slaughter video shared on social media, 6 Muslims arrested
Hate speech against Hindus
Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith

Case Summary

Six Muslims were arrested in Guwahati for sharing a video on Instagram depicting the slaughter of a cow, which triggered widespread outrage. The arrests were made by Guwahati City Police with the assistance of Kamrup Police following a complaint and investigation. They were identified as Sahil Khan (20), Hafizur Islam (19), Rokibul Husain (20), Sahidul Islam (30), Izaz Khan (26), and Jahidul Islam (24), all residents of Asalpara Village in Chaygaon, Kamrup district. The incident involved a video showing men carrying utensils on a riverbank for a picnic, dragging a calf, slaughtering it, cutting the meat, and cooking it. The video, shared on social media, led to a public uproar. The police registered a case under the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 2021, and sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Act, 2021, for hurting religious sentiments and disturbing public tranquillity. In a coordinated operation, the police arrested the accused from their residences. Legal proceedings were initiated, and the authorities emphasized their commitment to tackling actions that disrupt communal harmony.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the prime category of- Hate speech against Hindus. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith. 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. In this instance, the intention behind sharing the cow slaughter video was clearly to provoke Hindus by attacking their religious sentiments. In Hinduism, the cow is deeply revered as a sacred being, and acts of cow slaughter by non-Hindu perpetrators serve as a direct insult to the Hindu faith. Historically, there have been numerous documented cases where cow slaughter has been used as a tool to demean Hindu beliefs, force conversions through the coercion of consuming beef, and even desecrate temples. Here, by deliberately recording and disseminating such a video on social media, the Muslim accused sought not only to incite outrage but also to mock and degrade Hindu religious traditions. This act goes beyond mere defiance of religious customs; it is a calculated attempt to insult and provoke the Hindu community. Given the explicit religious motive and the clear intent to offend and inflame tensions, this case falls squarely under the category of a religiously motivated hate crime and this is why it has been added to the tracker.

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Case Status


Arrested

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Perpetrators Details

Perpetrators


Muslim Extremists

Perpetrators Range


From 5 to 10

Perpetrators Gender


male

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