Hindu residents obstructed and threatened by Muslims during Khuti Puja ceremony in Purba Medinipur, West Bengal
Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal, India 
24 September, 2026
Case Summary
In Ward No. 10 of Panskura Municipality in Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal, Hindu residents faced opposition and obstruction from Muslim residents while preparing to perform the traditional Khuti Puja ceremony marking the commencement of construction of their annual Durga Puja pandal. According to reports, Hindu organisers gathered to perform the traditional Khuti Puja, which marked the commencement of construction of the Durga Puja mandap. During this time, a crowd of Muslim residents gathered at the site, objected to the arrangements and opposed the religious ceremony. The situation escalated as Muslim residents confronted the Hindu organisers, with Muslim women positioned at the front of the gathering as the ceremony was being opposed. Videos of the incident circulated on social media showing Muslim men and women confronting on-duty police personnel who had arrived at the site to manage the situation. The videos also showed members of the gathering threatening Hindu residents during the confrontation. Due to the confrontation at the site, the Khuti Puja remained stalled for several hours. The situation was brought under control after police personnel formed a protective cordon around the site. Under police protection, the Hindu residents were ultimately able to proceed with and perform the Khuti Puja.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of - Restriction/ban on Hindu practices. Within it, the sub-category selected here is - Restriction of expression of Hindu identity. An example of the state-affected prejudicial and targeted orders against the Hindu community would be a government denying the right of a Hindu or a group of Hindus to hold a religious procession owing to the animosity of non-Hindu groups. Denial of the religious right of the Hindus to assuage the non-Hindu group which harbours animosity to a point where it could lead to violence against Hindus is not only a failure of law and order but is a prejudicial order against Hindus, denying them their fundamental rights to express their religious identity. An example of a hate crime against Hindus by a non-Hindu would be a non-Hindu institution forcing its Hindu employees to abandon religious symbols that a Hindu would wear as an expression of faith owing to inherent prejudice against the faith professed by the victim or a non-Hindu group of people restricting a Hindu group from constructing a place of worship simply because the demography of the area in which the temple is being built is dominated by non-Hindus. Such actions are driven by religious animosity and/or prejudice against Hindus and their faith and would therefore be categorized as a hate crime. The second primary category selected here is - Attack not resulting in death. Within it, the sub-category selected here is - Attack 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. The third primary category selected here is - Attack on Hindu religious representations. Within it, the sub-category 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 religious dimension of the incident was established by the fact that the obstruction directly targeted the performance of Khuti Puja, a Hindu religious ceremony marking the commencement of preparations for Durga Puja. The Hindu residents had gathered specifically to perform the ceremony and begin construction of their annual Durga Puja pandal. The opposition therefore did not concern an ordinary public gathering or secular activity, but directly affected the exercise of a Hindu religious observance. Durga Puja is one of the most important Hindu festivals, particularly in Bengal, and is dedicated to Maa Durga, who is worshipped as the divine embodiment of Shakti and as the destroyer of evil. The festival involves the installation and worship of consecrated idols of Maa Durga in specially constructed pandals, followed by several days of prayers, rituals and devotional observances before the idol is ceremonially immersed. The Khuti Puja marks the beginning of preparations for the festival and the construction of the pandal in which the deity is to be worshipped. Consequently, preventing or obstructing the Khuti Puja directly interfered with the commencement of preparations for an important Hindu religious observance. The conduct became particularly significant from a hate-crime perspective because the Muslim residents gathered at the site and objected specifically to the arrangements for the Durga Puja ceremony, resulting in the Hindu organisers being prevented from proceeding with the Khuti Puja for several hours. The ceremony was ultimately performed only after police personnel formed a protective cordon around the site. By attempting to halt the ceremony, the Muslim perpetrators sought to erase the public manifestation of Hindu worship and assert territorial dominance over civic space. The disruption therefore had a direct impact on the Hindu residents' ability to commence preparations for their religious festival and carry out the associated religious ceremony without interference. The incident also constituted an attack on Hindu religious practice through deliberate obstruction, even though no physical assault on the Hindu residents was reported. An attack on a religious practice does not necessarily require physical violence against worshippers. Deliberately preventing or disrupting a religious ceremony can itself constitute direct interference with the exercise of faith. In this case, the Hindu residents were unable to proceed with the Khuti Puja for several hours because of the confrontation at the site and ultimately required police protection to perform the ceremony. The obstruction therefore directly interfered with the conduct of a Hindu religious observance. The incident was thus relevant to the hate-crime framework because the conduct directly obstructed a Hindu religious ceremony and interfered with the community's exercise of its faith. The opposition was specifically directed at preparations for Durga Puja and resulted in the Khuti Puja being delayed until police protection was provided. The deliberate obstruction of the ceremony therefore constituted a concrete interference with the Hindu residents' ability to conduct their religious practice, making it a religiously motivated hate crime. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when an event occurred or when the victim's ordeal began. It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case has specified the exact date when the incident occurred. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the incident was reported in the media, 25 September 2026
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
