Hindu religious sentiments targeted through offensive social media posts in Kharkhoda, Uttar Pradesh
Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India 
14 September, 2026
Case Summary
In the Kharkhoda area, offensive remarks targeting Hindu deities were posted on social media, hurting the religious sentiments of the Hindu community. Workers from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), including Harsh Sharma, Harsh Tyagi, Yash Tyagi, and Vinod Sharma, visited the Kharkhoda police station and lodged a formal complaint. The delegation submitted that the derogatory posts deliberately targeted Hindu religious beliefs and demanded a thorough police investigation into the social media accounts responsible for the content. They requested that strict legal action be taken against those behind the posts. The police accepted the complaint and initiated an investigation into the matter. Law enforcement officials stated that further action would be taken in accordance with the law once the investigation concluded and the facts surrounding the offensive posts were fully established. The Hinduphobia Tracker team contacted Kharkhoda Police Station and was informed that the accused was found guilt of doing this and had been arrested.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case is being added to the tracker under the primary category- Attack on Hindu religious representations. 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 incident qualified as a religiously motivated hate crime because the derogatory posts exclusively targeted Hindu deities. By choosing sacred figures central to the Hindu belief system as the subject of offensive commentary, the perpetrator demonstrated a clear intent to insult the faith. This deliberate focus on Hindu religious markers transformed the digital posts into a calculated attack on the community's religious identity. The conduct directly constituted an attack on Hindu religious representations. The perpetrator used a public social media platform to broadcast hostility, proving that the remarks stemmed from deep-seated religious animosity. Mocking revered deities in this manner serves to demean the core tenets of Hinduism and deliberately outrages the religious sentiments of its followers. By directing derogatory language at the gods worshipped by Hindus, the perpetrator engaged in an established tactic designed to mock their beliefs and marginalise them as a religious group. Furthermore, the public broadcast of these offensive remarks aimed to maximise distress and humiliate the Hindu community at large. Such deliberate online hostility strikes at the cultural and spiritual fabric of the community, forcing Hindus to seek legal recourse to protect their religious dignity. The explicit intention to demean the Hindu faith through its sacred deities firmly establishes the act as a hate crime driven by religious prejudice. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incident dates based on when the crime occurs, not when the media reports it. However, in this case, media reports have not stated the exact date when the accused made denigrating remarks against Hindu Deities. Hence, 15th September 2026 has been selected as the indicative date of the incident. This is documented for record-keeping purposes.
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Unknown
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
