Case Summary

At Rajwada in Indore, Hindu women attending a Bhajan Sandhya event, a religious and cultural programme organised on the occasion of the Hartalika Teej festival, were targeted for sexual harassment by Muslim men. The perpetrators had entered the Teej event by presenting themselves as Hindus and using Hindu names. The incident occurred on September 14, 2026, when thousands of Hindu women and families had gathered at the annual Teej event organised by Member of Parliament Shankar Lalwani. During the programme, more than half a dozen Muslim youths entered the crowd and began harassing Hindu women and touching them inappropriately. Bajrang Dal workers became suspicious of the youths, confronted them and asked their names. The youths initially gave Hindu names, but upon being strictly questioned, disclosed their Muslim identities. A dispute over their identities subsequently escalated, following which Bajrang Dal workers apprehended more than half a dozen youths and thrashed them before handing them over to the police. Police officers reached the spot and took the detained youths to the police station while also taking control of the situation. Police began investigating the perpetrators' backgrounds and purpose for being present at the religious gathering. Officers also examined videos recorded at the spot and other evidence as part of the investigation. Security arrangements had been tightened at Rajwada and the surrounding areas following similar incidents reported over the previous three years. Barricades had been erected, and devotees arriving with their families were allowed entry. Suspicious or intoxicated youths, or those found loitering without an apparent purpose, were stopped and questioned, with some being taken to the police station and others being dealt with at the spot. Bajrang Dal district coordinator Vijay Kalkhor said that this was not the first such incident and stated that Muslim youths had previously entered major Hindu community events using fake identities to harass Hindu women. He described such incidents as examples of “Love Jihad”. Kalkhor further said that Bajrang Dal would remain actively involved in security arrangements at upcoming major Hindu programmes. Following the incident, Hindu organisations warned that they would launch a strong agitation if similar incidents were repeated. Notably, the Hinduphobia Tracker had previously documented another incident from Indore in 2025, in which Muslim men posed as Hindus, entered a religious event and sexually harassed Hindu women during Hartalika Teej. In that incident, the Muslim perpetrators were arrested by the police.

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Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Attack not resulting in death. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Attacked for Hindu identity. In several cases, Hindus are attacked merely for their Hindu identity without any perceived provocation. A classic example of this category of religiously motivated hate crime is a murder in 2016. 7 ISIS terrorists were convicted for shooting a school principal in Kanpur because they got ‘triggered’ seeing the Kalava on his wrist and tilak that he had put. In this, the Hindu victim had offered no provocation except for his Hindu religious identity. The motivation for the murder was purely religious, driven by religious supremacy. Such cases where Hindus are targeted merely for their religious identity would be documented as a hate crime under this category. Another primary category selected is- Attack on Hindu religious representations. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Defiling religious customs. Sanatan Dharma is not a religion of one book, which is to say that while it has religious scriptures that form the central tenets of the faith, there are several traditions followed through thousands of years, mostly passed from generation to generation orally. There are several such customs and traditions that are followed by various Hindus and Hindu sects. Defiling of these traditions and customs is a breach of an individual or group’s religious practices. Such practices can range from dietary restrictions like not eating non-vegetarian food for a certain period of the year, not eating non-vegetarian food at all, not eating beef since the cow is considered holy in Hinduism, the sanctity of religious customs followed in the house (like many ISCKON devotees), etc. Any malicious action leading to the breach of such traditions or defilement of these traditions owing to animosity towards the faith or for the sake of activism stems not only from the lack of faith in the religion itself but also from disregard for the faith of the devotees who follow the customs/traditions and implicit bias against the faith, the tradition itself. Since these specific traditions are central to the faith of the devotees of that specific sect of Hindus, any non-compliance with these traditional rules would be considered a religiously motivated hate crime. The other subcategory selected is- Breaking rules of place of worship. Sanatan Dharma is not a religion of one book, which is to say that while it has religious scriptures that form the central tenets of the faith, there are several traditions followed through thousands of years, mostly passed from generation to generation orally. One of these oral traditions or written traditions is the rules of specific temples. Certain temples have rules which are traditional rules, dependent on the worship of the presiding deities. These rules and traditions have been followed for thousands of years whether they find scriptural mention or not. Such traditions are based on the nature and rules of worship of the presiding deity of that temple. Any non-compliance of these traditions owing to animosity towards the faith or for the sake of activism stems not only from the lack of faith in the presiding deity but also disregard for the faith of the devotees of that deity/temple and implicit bias against the faith, the tradition and the deity itself. Since these specific traditions are central to the faith of the devotees of that specific temple and presiding deity, any non-compliance with these traditional rules would be considered a religiously motivated hate crime. This incident qualifies as a religiously motivated hate crime because the Muslim perpetrators chose Hindu women at a Hindu religious gathering as the targets of sexual harassment. The fact that they specifically targeted women belonging to the Hindu community within a Hindu religious setting indicates that the victims were targeted after being identified as members of a particular faith. Had the conduct been motivated solely by sexual gratification, the perpetrators could have targeted women irrespective of their religious identity or in a setting unrelated to religion. Instead, they chose a Hindu religious gathering and targeted Hindu women participating in it, demonstrating a deliberate focus on members of the Hindu community. The circumstances therefore indicate that the victims’ Hindu identity was a factor in their targeting, reflecting religious hostility and establishing a religious dimension to the offence. The perpetrators’ deliberate religious deception further strengthened this religious dimension. They concealed their Muslim identities and used Hindu names to gain entry to the gathering. By deliberately presenting themselves as Hindus, they sought access to a Hindu religious environment while concealing the fact that they did not belong to the religious community whose gathering they were entering. This was significant because the false identity was used to overcome the natural barrier that their actual identity would create and to obtain access and proximity to Hindu female devotees. The subsequent targeting of Hindu women after gaining such access demonstrated that the Hindu identity and religious character of the gathering were not incidental circumstances. The deliberate misuse of a Hindu identity to enter a Hindu religious space and then target its women demonstrated disregard for Hindu religious sentiments and added an element of religious hostility to the offence. The religious significance of the occasion further heightened the nature of the crime. Hartalika Teej is a major Hindu festival dedicated to Goddess Parvati and holds particular religious significance for Hindu women, who observe it through fasting, prayers, worship and other devotional practices. The Bhajan Sandhya was organised as part of these Hindu religious celebrations, bringing devotees together in a religious atmosphere centred on bhajans and worship. The perpetrators therefore did not target Hindu women in an ordinary public setting; they targeted them in the midst of a significant Hindu religious observance. The sexual harassment consequently also undermined the sanctity of the religious occasion and the place where devotees had gathered for worship. A space intended for bhajans, prayer and religious observance was turned into a setting for the harassment of Hindu women. Such conduct disrupted the devotional environment, caused distress to devotees and showed disregard for the sanctity of Hindu religious customs. The fact that the perpetrators had entered the gathering while concealing their identities further aggravated this violation, as the religious character of the gathering was deliberately exploited to facilitate their presence and conduct. The fact that a similar incident had occurred previously in Indore further strengthened the religious dimension of the present offence. The Hinduphobia Tracker had documented an incident in 2025 in which Muslim men posed as Hindus, entered a Hartalika Teej event and sexually harassed Hindu women. The recurrence of a similar modus operandi, involving the use of false Hindu identities to enter a Teej gathering and the subsequent sexual targeting of Hindu women, indicated that the present incident was not an isolated occurrence. The repetition of such conduct against Hindu women during a Hindu religious festival made the pattern of religiously targeted sexual exploitation evident and further reinforced the indication of hostility towards the Hindu community. Taken together, the targeting of Hindu women at a Hindu religious gathering, the deliberate religious deception used to gain entry, and the exploitation of a sacred Hindu festival and religious space for sexual harassment demonstrated hostility towards the Hindu community and disregard for Hindu religious sentiments. These factors established the religiously motivated nature of the offence. Therefore, this case met the parameters of a religiously motivated hate crime and was added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: Media reports do not specify the exact number of perpetrators. However, they do indicate that more than half a dozen Muslim men were involved. For documentation purposes, we are taking a conservative estimate and keeping the perpetrator count at '7'.