Case Summary

In Kurla, Mumbai, Maharashtra, amidst the Navratri celebrations, a Durga pandal was targeted for desecration by three Muslim youths who deliberately threw an egg towards it on 13 October 2026. The accused were identified as Zaid Bal Mehtar (21), Wal Rehman Farukh Golandaj (18) and Jafkarim Khan (19). The incident came to light after Sakal Hindu Samaj, a Hindu organisation based in Maharashtra, posted about it on its official X handle on 13 October 2026. According to the organisation, Hindu devotees were participating in a Jagran (devotional vigil) at the Durga pandal in Gauri Shankar Chowk, Kurla West, on the night of 12–13 October 2026, when an egg was thrown from the Hans Residency building at around 12:40 am, targeting the pandal. A video shared by Sakal Hindu Samaj showed an egg lodged on the engine of a Yamaha motorcycle parked immediately beside the pandal. It also showed Hindu devotees confronting the police and insisting that the three Muslim youths had deliberately targeted the Durga pandal, even though the egg had landed on the motorcycle instead. Following considerable effort, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered at Vinoba Bhave Nagar Police Station, and all three accused were arrested. Sub-Inspector Digambar Vilas Patil was assigned to investigate the case. Sakal Hindu Samaj demanded an impartial investigation and appropriate legal action based on the facts. After the incident came to light, the Hinduphobia Tracker team investigated the matter further and accessed the FIR registered in connection with the incident. According to the FIR, registered at Vinoba Bhave Nagar Police Station at 4:17 am on 13 October 2026, the complaint was filed by Dnyanand Vitthal Lokhande, a member of the Tarun Dharma Mandal, an organisation that had been installing the Durga pandal in the area during Navratri for 51 years. The complainant stated that at around 12:40 am on 13 October 2026, he was sitting outside the Durga pandal at Gauri Shankar Chowk, along with other members of the mandal and devotees participating in the Jagran. The Hans Residency building was approximately 50 metres from the pandal when three Muslim youths ran out through its main gate. One of them was wearing a black T-shirt, while another was carrying eggs. The youth running behind deliberately threw an egg towards the Goddess's pandal, aiming at it. However, the egg landed on the engine of a parked Yamaha motorcycle outside the pandal's gate. The FIR further stated that the devotees attempted to stop the three Muslim youths. Two of them ran back into Hans Residency, while the youth who had thrown the egg was stopped and questioned. He claimed that they were celebrating a birthday and attempted to evade responsibility by saying that they had been throwing eggs at one another. When the other two youths were questioned about who had thrown the egg towards the pandal, they argued with the devotees and shouted at them. The police were alerted through the control room and arrived at the scene, arrested all three Muslim youths and took them to the police station. According to the complainant, a member of the mandal identified Jafkarim Khan as the person who had thrown the egg and Zaid Bal Mehtar and Wal Rehman Farukh Golandaj as the two youths who had argued with the devotees. The complainant stated that the egg had been deliberately thrown towards the Goddess's idol and pandal, despite the accused knowing that the idol had been installed there, and that the act was intended to hurt the religious sentiments of the Hindu community. The FIR was registered under Sections 298 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. The investigation was assigned to Police Sub-Inspector Digambar Vilas Patil.

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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: 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. This case is a clear example of a religiously driven hate crime, as three Muslim perpetrators deliberately targeted a Durga pandal by hurling an egg towards it during the Navratri celebrations. The act was directed at a sacred Hindu religious installation during an important religious festival, demonstrating a deliberate attempt to desecrate a place of worship and violate the religious sentiments of Hindu devotees. To understand the religious violation involved, one must first understand the religious significance of Navratri and the Durga pandals erected during the festival. Navratri is a sacred Hindu festival dedicated to the worship of the Divine Feminine, particularly Goddess Durga, who represents divine power, the triumph of good over evil and the destruction of demonic forces. Devotees observe the festival through prayers, fasting, devotional singing and other religious rituals, seeking the Goddess's blessings and expressing their reverence for her. Durga pandals serve as temporary places of worship where the idol of Goddess Durga is installed, and devotees gather for prayers, devotional programmes and collective worship. These pandals become focal points of religious observance and community participation, with the installed idol and the surrounding premises treated with reverence as sacred spaces during the festival. Maintaining the purity and sanctity of these spaces is an important aspect of Hindu worship, which is why substances such as eggs, meat, fish and alcohol are generally kept away from places of worship and religious observances where they are considered ritually impure or inappropriate. Such restrictions are observed to preserve the sanctity of the worship area and ensure that religious rituals take place in an atmosphere of reverence and purity. Therefore, the deliberate act of throwing an egg towards a Durga pandal during Navratri showcases the perpetrators’ intent to defile the sanctity of the sacred Hindu religious space and desecrate the religious customs of purity observed by Hindu devotees gathered to worship Goddess Durga. By targeting a pandal where devotees were participating in a Jagran, the perpetrators demonstrated disregard for the sanctity of Hindu religious observances and the sentiments of the worshippers. The nature and context of the act went beyond mere public nuisance, reflecting hostility towards Hindu religious customs and a willingness to violate the sanctity of a sacred gathering during an important Hindu festival. Some may argue that the incident occurred accidentally because the perpetrators were celebrating a birthday and had been throwing eggs at one another. However, the birthday celebration explanation was provided by the accused themselves and does not establish that the incident was accidental or that the act lacked a religious dimension. Even if a birthday celebration was taking place, that would not justify directing an egg towards a Durga pandal. Birthday celebrations are ordinarily private affairs, and even when conducted in public spaces, they do not grant participants the right to interfere with the religious observances of others. A public road is shared by everyone, but this does not diminish the sanctity of a religious installation erected there with the requisite permissions from the authorities. A Durga pandal is established for a specific religious purpose, and its presence is clearly visible to those in its immediate vicinity. In this incident, an egg was deliberately thrown towards the Durga pandal while Hindu devotees were gathered for a Jagran, although it ultimately landed on the engine of a parked motorcycle outside the pandal's gate. The fact that the egg struck the motorcycle instead does not negate the deliberate direction of the act towards the sacred installation. Nor does the explanation of a birthday celebration erase the religious implications of targeting a place where Hindu devotees had assembled to worship Goddess Durga. The central issue is not whether the perpetrators were celebrating a birthday, but why an egg was thrown towards a sacred Hindu religious installation in the first place. A birthday celebration cannot serve as a blanket excuse for an act that targeted a place of worship, nor can it diminish the violation of Hindu religious sentiments. The deliberate targeting of the pandal amidst Navratri celebrations demonstrates hostility towards Hindu religious beliefs and disregard for the sanctity of their religious observances. This was not an isolated incident of Hindu religious celebrations being desecrated with eggs or meat. Prior to the Navratri celebrations in 2026, similar incidents had occurred during Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in 2026, when Muslim perpetrators targeted Hindu religious processions and celebrations with substances considered ritually impure in Hindu worship. The Hinduphobia Tracker had documented two such incidents. In Mazagaon, South Mumbai, the sanctity of a Hindu religious procession was desecrated when a Muslim man named Danish Sher Khan threw eggs at the Ganpati idol, the pandal and the accompanying religious procession, triggering tension in the area. The accused stated that fumes from firecrackers had irritated him and that he had thrown the eggs in anger. However, his explanation did not erase the religious implications of a Muslim perpetrator targeting a Ganpati idol, a place of worship and a procession of Hindu devotees during a religious festival. Similarly, in Madannapet, Hyderabad, a Ganesh idol immersion procession and an Annadanam event, a sacred religious feast, were defiled when three Muslim residents threw pieces of meat from the seventh floor of an apartment building. The police described the incident as communal and stated that the meat thrown resembled beef. The act by the Muslim perpetrators targeted Hindu religious observances at a time when devotees had gathered to participate in the immersion procession and the sacred community feast. These repeated incidents point to a disturbing pattern in which Muslim perpetrators targeted Hindu religious processions, festivals and places of worship through acts involving eggs and meat. From eggs being thrown at Ganpati idols and processions in Mumbai to meat being thrown at a Ganesh immersion procession and Annadanam event in Hyderabad, these incidents demonstrate how substances considered ritually impure in Hindu religious contexts have been used to violate the sanctity of Hindu celebrations. The recurrence of such incidents during major Hindu festivals demonstrates religious hostility directed towards Hindu worship and the disregard shown for the sentiments of Hindu devotees. The Kurla incident, in which an egg was deliberately thrown towards a Durga pandal during Navratri, must therefore be examined in the context of this broader pattern of attacks on Hindu religious observances. Overall, since this case meets the parameters of a hate crime, it is being added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker.