Case Summary

In Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu man named Preetam Singh was brutally assaulted and stone-pelted by a mob of Muslim men. One of the Muslim accused also threatened to slaughter all Hindus. He also referred to Hindus as "Kafirs", a derogatory connotation used by Muslims to express contempt, hatred, or disdain for any non-believer in Islam, particularly Hindus. According to reports, this began over a minor dispute between the Hindu victim, Preetam Singh and the Muslim accused. The Muslim perpetrators were identified as Kale, Firoz, Sahil, son of Rahmatullah, Indu, son of Anil, Armaan, son of Ahsan, Faizan, son of Sahid, along with a dozen other Muslims. Initially, the dispute was over a money issue, which further escalated as the Muslim group launched a brutal assault against Preetam and also issued threats to slaughter all Hindus. A video of this incident went viral on social media. In the video, the Muslim perpetrators were seen pelting stones, and one of the perpetrators shouted "Oh Kaafiron, tum sab kaate jaoge" meaning "Oh Kafirs all of you will be slaughtered". Here, Kafir referred specifically to Hindus. The Hinduphobia Tracker team managed to obtain the First Information Report for this case. In it, Preetam Singh, son of Kishan Singh, from Fatiha Patti village, Farah tehsil, Mathura district, said that on 29 March 2026, around 5:30 PM at Farah Chauraha, he went to Mohalla trader Anwar, son of Kale's shop, to get back his ₹5000 loan. When he asked for the money, Anwar refused to pay back and began abusing him. Upon his protest, Kale, Firoz, Sahil, son of Rahmatullah, Indu, son of Anil, Armaan, son of Ahsan, Faizan, son of Sahid, along with about a dozen other Muslims, assaulted him with stones and attacked him with the intent to kill using a sharp knife. He somehow managed to save himself, during which the said knife struck Anmol’s hand, who was a passerby and tried to intervene and save Preetam, due to which his hand got cut. Following this, Preetam informed Dial 112 about the incident. When the police reached the spot, the accused started pelting stones more aggressively. Even after the police arrived, they did not stop throwing stones and continued the attack. There was a large crowd present at the spot. Seeing themselves surrounded, the Muslim perpetrators threatened that if money was demanded, they would make it Preetam's last day, and thereafter fled the scene. The said persons had also previously attacked Preetam, and it is stated that Kale and his son, along with others, had previously gone to jail about six months ago in a vehicle theft case. Preetam stated that the Muslim perpetrators had a long criminal history. A complaint regarding this incident was filed at the Farah police station. The Mathura police on their official X handle confirmed that a case had been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and further investigation would take place accordingly.

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Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category selected in this case is- Hate Speech against Hindus. The subcategory selected is- Violent Threats. Violent threats, explicit, implicit or implied, is the most dangerous form of hate speech since it goes beyond discriminatory and prejudicial language to express the intent of causing harm to an individual or a group of people based on their religious identity and faith. There could be several different kinds of threats that are issued to Hindus based on religious animosity. An explicit threat would mean the direct threat of violence towards an individual Hindu, a group of Hindus or Hindus at large. Physical violence, death threats, threats of destruction of property belonging to Hindus and threats of genocide would mean explicit threats against Hindus for their religious identity. Implicit threats may not be a direct threat but implied through the use of symbols of actions – for example – in the Nupur Sharma case, other than explicit threats, there were also implicit threats when Islamists took to the streets to burn and beat her effigies. It implies that they want to do the same to Nupur Sharma – thereby is considered an implicit threat. Violent threats can be delivered in person, through letters, phone calls, graffiti, or increasingly through social media and other online platforms. It would be important to understand that a threat – explicit or implicit, online or offline – to an individual who happens to be a Hindu does not qualify as a religiously motivated threat. Such a threat, while vile and dangerous, could be owing to non-religious reasons and/or personal animosity. To qualify as a religiously motivated threat, it would need to exhibit an indication that the individual is being targeted for religious reasons and/or owing to his/her religious identity as a Hindu. Another primary category selected is- Attack not resulting in death. The subcategory selected is- Communal Clash/Attack. Communal clash is a form of collective violence that involves clashes between groups belonging to different religious identities. For a communal clash between Hindus and non-Hindus to qualify as a religiously motivated hate crime, the trigger of the violence itself would have to be anti-Hindu in essence. For example, if there is a Hindu religious procession that comes under attack from a non-Hindu mob and after the initial attack, Hindus retaliate in self-defence, leading to a communal clash between the two religious communities. While at a later stage, both communities are involved in the clash/violence, the initial trigger of the violence was by the non-Hindu mob against the Hindus and therefore, it could safely be termed as an anti-Hindu violence. Further, the trigger would also have to be religiously motivated. In the cited example, the attack by the non-Hindu mob was against religious processions and therefore, can be concluded to be religiously motivated. In some cases, the trigger may be non-religious, however, it develops into religious violence against Hindus at a later stage. In such cases too, the foundational animosity towards Hindus becomes the motivating factor of the crime and therefore, it would be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime against Hindus under this category. This case is a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime because in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu man, Preetam Singh, faced a brutal Muslim mob assault over a minor money dispute that escalated into communal violence against the Hindu community. The attackers pelted stones, attempted to stab him with a knife, and issued explicit threats to slaughter all Hindus while calling them "Kafirs," revealing targeted religious hatred beyond any personal grudge. The term "kafir” is a derogatory connotation used by Muslims to express contempt, hatred, or disdain for any non-believer in Islam, particularly Hindus. The religious intent of the case is clear from the way the perpetrators threatened to slaughter all Hindus, making it a clear case of a religiously motivated hate crime. Even though the initial dispute between the victim and the perpetrators stemmed from a personal feud over a loan of ₹5000, the escalation of the violence and the explicit threat towards the entire Hindu community showcased that the attack was not driven by personal animosity or a mere dispute. Instead, it demonstrated the deep-seated religious animosity of the perpetrators towards the Hindu victim and the larger Hindu community, transforming a trivial matter into a communal assault aimed at intimidating an entire religious group. Firstly, the nature of the attack underscores its religious motivation and reveals its communal severity. It began as a simple money dispute at a shop but rapidly escalated into a vicious mob assault by Muslim perpetrators on the Hindu victim, who pelted stones relentlessly and wielded a sharp knife with clear intent to kill. The victim barely escaped, while another Hindu man, Anmol, suffered a severe hand cut from the knife during his intervention. This hostile escalation, involving an entire Muslim mob fixated on attacking the Hindu victim, showcases deep religious hate, transforming personal friction into a targeted communal attack driven by animosity against his Hindu identity. The violent threat raised by one of the perpetrators to slaughter all Hindus further exposes the religious animosity at play and sowed deep fear among the Hindu community. By shouting "Oh Kaafiron, tum sab kaate jaoge", meaning "Oh Kafirs, all of you will be slaughtered", and using the term "Kafir" specifically to refer to Hindus, the Muslim attackers asserted Islamic supremacy while humiliating the victim and his Hindu faith through dehumanising language. This genocidal rhetoric, captured on a video that went viral on social media, directly threatened the entire Hindu community, creating widespread insecurity and a sense of mortal danger simply for being Hindu, as it signalled that any Hindu could be next. Such open calls for mass slaughter instilled lasting fear, making Hindus feel vulnerable and targeted in their own neighbourhoods, and marking this as a clear case of a religiously motivated hate crime designed to assert dominance over non-Muslims. The entire nature of the attack reveals pre-planned communal aggression rather than a spontaneous outburst, showcasing the perpetrators' deep religious hatred towards Hindus. The Muslim mob assembled instantly with weapons readied in advance, including stockpiled stones for relentless pelting and a sharp knife wielded for lethal stabbing, demonstrating calculated intent to inflict maximum harm; they even intensified the stone-throwing after police arrived at the scene, defying authority to prolong the assault. The perpetrators' prior criminal history, such as Kale and his son's recent jail time for vehicle theft, coupled with their repeated attacks on Preetam, and the mob's coordinated tactics to surround, attack, and issue death threats, all point to meticulously orchestrated violence aimed specifically at silencing and brutalising the Hindu victim because of his religious identity. This level of preparation and persistence transforms the incident into a blatant expression of anti-Hindu hatred, where the attackers' religious bigotry fuelled their resolve to terrorise and dominate, making it a clear case of an anti-Hindu communal attack. Since this incident stands as a clear case of a religiously motivated hate crime, it is being documented in the Hate Crime Database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: In this case, considering Preetam Singh was the initial target, but also another Hindu man, a passerby named Anmol, was attacked when he intervened, the victim count has been recorded as two. The perpetrator count has been recorded as 18. As the reports stated that the perpetrators were identified as Kale, Feroz, Sahil, Indu, Armaan, Faizan, these six named individuals, along with a dozen other Muslims, made up a total of 18. This is recorded for documentation purposes only.