Hindu woman, her children and elders violently attacked with machete and acid by her Muslim husband while celebrating Hindu festival Ugadi in Karnataka

Case ID : 30a7c16 | Location : Chitradurga, Karnataka, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 18 March, 2026

Case ID : 30a7c16

Chitradurga, Karnataka, India

18 March, 2026

Hindu woman, her children and elders violently attacked with machete and acid by her Muslim husband while celebrating Hindu festival Ugadi in Karnataka

Undecided cases

Case Summary

In Malappanahatti village, Karnataka, a Hindu woman and her family were violently attacked by her Muslim husband while they were celebrating the Hindu festival of Ugadi. The incident took place on 19 March 2026 at the residence of Nagma Nayak, where family members had gathered for the festival. The accused was identified as Suhail Basha. At the time of the incident, his estranged wife, Tasina Banu, had returned to her hometown for Ugadi and was staying at her elder sister Nagma Nayak’s residence along with their young daughter. Upon learning of her presence, Suhail Basha entered the house carrying acid and a machete. He first attacked Tasina Banu with the machete and thereafter hurled acid at the family members who intervened. The victims were identified as Tasina Banu, her daughter Roshni, her sisters Neha and Nagma Nayak, and Neha’s daughter Ikra. All five sustained burn injuries on multiple parts of their bodies due to the acid attack. Tasina Banu also suffered machete injuries and was admitted to the hospital in critical condition. The background of the incident showed that Suhail Basha and Tasina Banu had married for love and had a young daughter together. Over the previous few months, their relationship had deteriorated following physical and mental harassment inflicted upon Tasina Banu, after which she had separated from him and had been living in Bengaluru. She had returned to Malappanahatti for the Ugadi celebrations when the attack took place. After carrying out the attack, Suhail Basha fled from the scene. Police from Kote Police Station initiated a manhunt and formed special teams to trace and apprehend him.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The Hinduphobia Tracker follows strict documentation standards, under which incidents are classified as hate crimes only when there is clear and demonstrable evidence of identity-based targeting. Where the available facts do not conclusively establish a religious motive, such cases are placed in the “Undecided” database to preserve analytical rigour and credibility. This incident has accordingly been placed under the Undecided category. The available facts confirm that a Muslim husband violently attacked his Hindu wife and her family members with a machete and acid on the day they had gathered to celebrate the Hindu festival of Ugadi. The timing of the attack, coinciding specifically with a Hindu festival, raises a legitimate question as to whether the celebration itself may have contributed to the trigger. At the same time, the present record does not contain any concrete evidence that explicitly establishes that the attack was motivated by hostility towards the Hindu festival or the victim’s religious identity. There is no mention of statements made by the accused objecting to the celebration, no religious slurs, and no other clear indicators from the source material that would conclusively show that the assault took place because the victims were celebrating Ugadi. One possible interpretation is that the accused deliberately chose the day of the Hindu festival because he was unhappy with his wife’s participation in the celebration of Hindu festival or with her presence at her Hindu family home during the festival. Another equally plausible interpretation is that the attack arose primarily out of pre-existing marital discord and domestic hostility, with the festival date being incidental rather than the motivating factor. But no specific reasons were mentioned about the marital discord too. In the absence of clear material demonstrating that the celebration of Ugadi was the direct cause of the violence, it would be premature to categorise this incident as a religion-based hate crime. For this reason, the matter has been placed in the Undecided database and will remain subject to review should further facts emerge establishing a definite religious motive.