Hindu man attacked by Muslim man after refusing to stop playing Hanuman Chalisa at gym in Cachar, Assam

Case ID : 30a9ca2 | Location : Cachar, Assam, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 7 August, 2026

Case ID : 30a9ca2

Cachar, Assam, India

7 August, 2026

Hindu man attacked by Muslim man after refusing to stop playing Hanuman Chalisa at gym in Cachar, Assam

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim

Case Summary

In Udharbond, Cachar, Assam, a Hindu man, Pritam Deb, was attacked by a Muslim man named Azharul Islam following a dispute over Hindu devotional music being played inside a gym. According to reports, the incident occurred on 8 August 2026 at Om Sai Gym, where several people were exercising while Hindu devotional songs, including Hanuman Chalisa, were being played. During this time, Azharul Islam, a resident of Hurauli in Udharbond, arrived at the gym and objected to the devotional music. He asked gym instructor and manager Pritam Deb to stop the songs. Pritam refused and responded that exercising while listening to Hanuman bhajans was a positive thing, following which an argument broke out between the two. The dispute subsequently turned violent. Azharul attacked Pritam and pushed him, causing him to fall and sustain a head injury that resulted in bleeding. Other people present at the gym intervened and informed the police. Pritam was later taken to a hospital, where he received stitches for his injury. The gym management and Pritam subsequently approached Udharbond Police Station and lodged a complaint against Azharul. CCTV footage from the gym captured the altercation. The footage showed two men emerging from the gym while engaged in a physical fight, with one man wearing a red T-shirt striking and pushing the other before shoving him towards an area outside the camera's view. When the two men returned into view, the man in the red T-shirt was seen with blood on his hand. Police subsequently arrested Azharul Barlaskar in connection with the incident, and the case remained under investigation.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of - Attack not resulting in death. Within it, the sub-category selected is - Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim. In several cases, Hindus are attacked for opposing religiously motivated crimes being committed against a fellow Hindu or simply for voicing an opinion opposing radical elements, who either have in the past or continue to persecute Hindus. In such cases, the initial attack against the victim, against which the Hindu was trying to defend the victim, would also need to be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime. Since the initial crime itself was religiously motivated and the subsequent crime of attempting to save the victim or speaking against the radical elements ends up inviting a violent attack, it would also be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under this category. This incident was categorised as a religiously motivated attack because the confrontation and subsequent assault were directly connected to the playing of Hindu devotional music, specifically Hanuman Chalisa and Hanuman bhajans, inside the gym. The incident did not begin as a general disagreement between two individuals. Azharul Islam, a Muslim man, entered Om Sai Gym while Hindu youths were exercising and devotional songs dedicated to Lord Hanuman were being played. He objected to the music and asked gym instructor and manager Pritam Deb to stop it. Pritam refused to comply with the demand and maintained that there was nothing wrong with exercising while listening to Hanuman devotional songs. The refusal to stop the devotional music was followed by an escalation in the confrontation. Azharul became violent and attacked Pritam, during which Pritam was seriously injured. The religious element was therefore not incidental to the altercation but formed the trigger for the confrontation. The demand made by Azharul was specifically to stop Hindu devotional music being played at the gym. Pritam became involved in the dispute because he refused to stop the devotional songs and defended their continued playing. The physical violence followed this refusal. This sequence established a direct link between the objection to Hindu religious expression and the assault on the person who resisted that objection. The accused also had the option of raising his objection to the music through a peaceful and civil discussion with the gym management rather than resorting to physical violence. Om Sai Gym was a common space open to people who came there to exercise, and decisions regarding the music played inside the premises rested with the gym's management and instructor. If Azharul had an objection to the devotional songs, he could have expressed it to the owner or manager and sought an amicable resolution. Instead, he resorted to violence after Pritam refused to stop the Hindu devotional music. Resorting to physical violence over the playing of Hindu devotional songs therefore demonstrated his religious animosity towards the expression of Hindu devotion, particularly as the violence followed a demand to discontinue the religious music. The incident also involved hostility towards the expression of Hindu religious devotion in a shared public setting. Hanuman Chalisa and Hanuman bhajans constitute forms of Hindu religious worship and devotion. Objecting to their presence and demanding that they be stopped, followed by violence when that demand was not accepted, indicated that the conflict centred on a Hindu religious practice rather than on an ordinary personal disagreement. Pritam was targeted in the immediate context of defending the continuation of the devotional music, making his refusal to suppress the Hindu religious expression an important factor in the escalation. The nature and sequence of the incident therefore supported its classification as a hate crime motivated by religious animosity. The chain of events was: Hindu devotional songs were being played; the Muslim accused objected to them and demanded that they be stopped; Pritam refused to stop the songs; the disagreement escalated into a physical confrontation; and Pritam sustained a head injury requiring medical treatment. The violence consequently occurred in the context of opposition to Hindu religious expression, rather than being disconnected from it. On this basis, the incident represented an instance in which hostility towards a Hindu religious practice escalated into physical violence against a Hindu man who resisted the demand to stop that practice.