Media peddles false propaganda about ‘upper caste’ Hindus being tyrannical towards 'lower caste' Hindus

Case Summary
On 22nd January notable media outlets including The Times of India, The Print, ETV Bharat and NDTV resorted to spreading lies about a Dalit groom's wedding procession in Lavera village of Ajmer, Rajasthan. They projected the presence of police during the wedding procession as a glaring example of atrocities on the members of the Scheduled Caste or Dalit community without looking into or rather deliberately ignoring the reality of the situation. The reports stated that a huge police force consisting of more than 100 officers, had accompanied the wedding procession of the Dalit groom because the upper caste Hindus in the village opposed his riding a horse. Each story tried to depict the presence of police officers as a result of aggressive behaviour from the upper caste people who could attack the wedding party because members of the Dalit community are allegedly not allowed to ride horses. Notably, the cops were not called by the groom or his family members and the matter had nothing to do with the upper caste. The cops were, in fact, deployed since there was an old conflict between the members of Dalit and Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities which transpired around twenty years ago. On 9th July 2005, members of a group in Lavera village objected to a marriage which led to a serious dispute. The police administration had put in place stringent security measures at that time as well. The horseman left with his mare from the baraat despite the deployment of additional police officers. The groom had to sit in a police jeep and the wedding procession was then able to move forward. The police were obviously present because of this old feud involving the bride’s family and not because anyone was afraid of being harmed by persons from the upper caste.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the prime category of- Hate speech against Hindus and within this, the sub-category selected is- Anti Hindu subversion and prejudice. Further, the tertiary category chosen is- Anti-Hindu Fake News or Downplaying. Hate speech is defined as any speech, gesture, conduct, writing, or display that is prejudicial against a specific individual and/or group of people, which is leading to or may lead to violence, prejudicial action or hate against that individual and/or group. Media plays a specific and overarching reach in perpetuating prejudicial attitudes towards a community owing to unfair, untrue coverage and/or misrepresentation/misinterpretation, selective coverage and/or omission of facts of/pertaining to issues affecting a specific religious group. This type of bias can dehumanise the victim group, making it easier for others to justify harmful actions against them, which aligns with the objectives of hate speech laws aimed at preventing such harm. It is often observed that the media takes a prejudicial stand against the Hindu community driven by their need to shield the aggressor community which happens to be a numeric minority, however, is the one perpetrating violence against Hindus. For example, the media is often quick to contextualise religiously motivated crimes against Hindus, omit or misrepresent facts that point towards religiously motivated hate crimes, justify and/or downplay religiously motivated hate crimes or simply present fake news to stereotype Hindus. Such media bias leads to the denial of persecution and is often used to dehumanise Hindus, leading to justification for violence against them. For example, the media covered several fake allegations of Hindus targeting Muslims and forcing them to chant Jai Shree Ram. Most of these cases were proved false and fabricated after police investigation. These fake news reports were subsequently never retracted or clarified. Such fake news led to the justification of violence and dehumanisation of Hindus based on the argument that since Hindus targeted Muslims and forced them to chant Jai Shree Ram, the dehumanisation of Hindus and violence against them was par for the course and merely a retaliation. Such media bias leads to prejudicial portrayal of Hindus and offers a justification for violence against them and therefore, is considered hate speech under this category. Fake news which aims to perpetuate the narrative that ‘upper caste’ Hindus are tyrannical towards disadvantaged sections of the Hindu society is essentially anti-Hindus in nature owing to the intention behind spreading disinformation of this nature. It is often claimed that even such disinformation cannot be term anti-Hindu in nature since both the purported victim and aggressor are from the Hindu community, however, the disinformation is spread with the specific intention of discrediting the Hindu society and their faith by branding it oppressive and tyrannical. The intent of spreading such disinformation is to signal that Sanatan Dharma itself is discriminatory in nature and that it is a faith that is only meant for the practice of a specific class of Hindus who are considered ‘upper caste’. Such a false narrative is perpetuated in order to discredit and delegitimise the faith and dehumanise its followers. The direct consequence of the creation of such false ‘atrocity literature’ is an increase in violence against specific sections of Hindus and, exertion of pressure on another section of Hindus to alienate themselves from their professed faith, as it seeks to convince them on how the faith itself discriminates against them. Since such narratives attack the core of the faith with the intention of delegitimization, dehumanization and alienation of Hindus, it is considered a hate crime against Hindus and the faith they profess.

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Unknown

Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Others
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unknown