Case Summary

A video went viral from Fauladnagar village of Baghpat district, Uttar Pradesh, which showed a Muslim man named Javed and his wife, Washima, cooking cow meat. In the video, which was shared by X user Spraha Joshi, the couple addressed Hindu and boasted of chopping and cooking Gau Mata. They mocked and directed profanities at Hindus, saying, "Hindus, we are chopping and cooking your Gau Mata. Do you want to eat?" They further challenged Hindus, stating, "If Hindus have guts, then stop us," triggering widespread outrage. Following the circulation of the video, police raided a house in Fauladnagar under the jurisdiction of Doghat Police Station. During the search, they recovered the remains of the prohibited animal. The police stated that they recovered cow meat, severed heads, hides, knives, weights and scales from the premises. A forensic team collected samples and sent them for examination. Washima was arrested from the spot, and during questioning, the involvement of her family members came to light. Police registered a case under the provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act. Javed, who had absconded after the raid, was traced later the same day in the Saraura forest area. When police attempted to apprehend him, he opened fire on the police team while trying to evade arrest. Police retaliated and shot him in the leg before taking him into custody. He was admitted to hospital for treatment. Police continued efforts to trace the remaining accused and initiated further legal proceedings.

Case Images

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category selected in this case is: Hate Speech against Hindus. The subcategory 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. The second primary category selected here is - Attack on Hindu religious representations. Within it, the sub-category selected here is - Desecration of Hindu religious symbols. Icons and symbols or a religious representation of a spiritual ideal are widely revered in Hinduism. Iconography is of vital significance in the Hindu milieu. It helps connect people’s spiritual beliefs with the real world. Iconography within the Hindu faith takes several shapes and forms. Murtis are of most significance to Hindus, to which daily rituals, prayers and offerings are done. Besides the murtis, there are several other symbols which have deep significance in the Hindu faith – the Om and Swastika for example. Since these Hindu religious symbols hold paramount importance in Hinduism, any desecration of symbols, icons, murtis, religious representations and manifestations, is driven by animosity towards the faith itself which manifests itself through these murtis, icons and symbols. Therefore, any desecration of these Hindu religious symbols and representations is considered religiously motivated hate crimes under this category. The incident has been added to the tracker because the accused's actions were directed specifically at Hindus and their religious beliefs. The conduct went beyond the slaughter of a cow and was accompanied by statements that openly ridiculed and challenged the Hindu community. In the viral video, the accused not only boasted of cooking Gau Mata, which is revered as sacred by millions of Hindus, but also directly addressed Hindus, mockingly asking if they wanted to eat it and daring them to stop the act if they had the courage. By stating, "Hindus, we are chopping and cooking your Gau Mata. Do you want to eat?" and further challenging them by saying, "If Hindus have guts, then stop us," the accused deliberately singled out Hindus because of their religious identity. The repeated reference to "your Gau Mata" was intended to mock the reverence Hindus accord to the cow and to humiliate the community by ridiculing one of its most deeply held religious beliefs. Further, the decision to record the incident and disseminate it publicly further aggravated the offence. The accused paired the visual depiction of what they identified as Gau Mata with remarks directed specifically at Hindus, ensuring that the content would reach a wider audience and maximise the hurt caused to Hindu religious sentiments. The public nature of the video demonstrated that causing offence was not an incidental consequence but an integral part of the conduct itself. Within Hinduism, the cow is revered as Gau Mata (Mother Cow) and holds profound religious significance. It symbolises motherhood, compassion, selfless giving, and the sanctity of life, and is venerated by millions of Hindus. Consequently, any deliberate act that invokes Gau Mata while portraying its slaughter or consumption, that too in a mocking manner, directly wounds Hindu religious sentiments. The issue in this case was not a private dietary choice but the conscious use of a sacred religious symbol as a vehicle to insult and provoke Hindus because of their faith. For these reasons, this case has been included in the hate crime database because the accused deliberately weaponised a sacred Hindu religious symbol to mock, insult, and provoke Hindus on the basis of their religious identity. The explicit references to Hindus, the invocation of "your Gau Mata," and the public dissemination of the video established that the conduct was directed at a specific religious community and constituted both hate speech against Hindus and an attack on a revered Hindu religious representation. The deliberate choice to combine the visual depiction of what the accused identified as Gau Mata with remarks directed specifically at Hindus distinguished this incident from a private act or an expression of personal preference. The accused consciously framed the act in religious terms and presented it as a challenge to the Hindu community, ensuring that the offence derived its impact from the violation of a belief held sacred by Hindus. The conduct therefore acquired a distinctly religious character, as the humiliation arose not from the act itself but from its deliberate association with a symbol that occupies a central place in Hindu faith. This demonstrated that the objective was to offend and provoke Hindus by attacking a belief intrinsic to their religious identity, thereby justifying its inclusion in the hate crime database. This incident was not an isolated occurrence but reflected a recurring pattern of hostility directed at Hindu religious beliefs through the deliberate targeting of the cow, a symbol held sacred in Hinduism. A similar case was documented in Kerala, where a social media creator repeatedly uploaded videos of himself consuming cow meat while referring to it as "your Gau Mata", using anti-Hindu slurs, and openly stating that he would continue producing such content to provoke and offend Hindus. The recurrence of such incidents demonstrated that the desecration of sacred Hindu symbols was repeatedly employed as a means of ridiculing, humiliating, and provoking Hindus because of their religious identity. Disclaimer: The exact date of the incident could not be independently established from the available sources. Accordingly, 28 July 2026, the earliest date that could be verified from the available reports, has been used as the date of the incident for documentation purposes.