Hindu girl students mocked, threatened with rape and murder for wearing Tulsi Mala in Cooch Behar, West Bengal

Case ID : 30aadda | Location : Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 10 October, 2026

Case ID : 30aadda

Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India

10 October, 2026

Hindu girl students mocked, threatened with rape and murder for wearing Tulsi Mala in Cooch Behar, West Bengal

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Cooch Behar, West Bengal, Hindu girl students of Panigram High School were threatened with rape and murder and subjected to religiously targeted harassment by Muslim students. In a viral video, the Hindu students were heard saying that they were threatened for wearing Tulsi Malas and said that repeated complaints to the school authorities did not result in action, leaving them fearful for their safety. The Hindu girl students, Papika Mondol and Dipshika Mondol, stated that Muslim female student Khushbu Khatun threatened that they would be raped at night and murdered for wearing the Tulsi Mala. They further stated that Muslim students mocked Hindus and used the term “hijra” as a derogatory insult against them. The harassment centred on the students’ visible Hindu identity, particularly their wearing of the Tulsi Mala, a sacred set of beads worn by Hindu devotees as an expression of faith. The Hindu girls stated that the threats and ridicule were not isolated and that they were being targeted repeatedly inside the school. Papika and Dipshika approached the headmaster and informed him about the threats, religious abuse and intimidation they were facing. According to the students, the headmaster did not intervene or take action against those responsible despite being informed about the seriousness of the situation. As the harassment continued, the Hindu students became increasingly frightened and expressed concern for their safety inside the school. They stated that they no longer wanted the students responsible for repeatedly threatening and harassing them to remain in the institution. The matter subsequently led to a protest inside Panigram High School, during which students raised the threats faced by Hindu girls, the mockery directed at those wearing Tulsi Mala and the lack of action from the school authorities. The protest also included wider grievances concerning Bengali teacher Murtaza Al Amin and his conduct within the school. Police from Nayarhat Outpost eventually reached the school, spoke to the protesting students and brought the situation under control. Al Amin was subsequently escorted from the school premises as tensions continued over the students’ complaints.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category selected for this case is: Attack not resulting in death. 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 the tilak that he had put. In this case, 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. This case qualifies as a religiously motivated hate crime because the hostility was directed at the victims through a visible and sacred expression of their Hindu identity. The defining religious marker was the Tulsi Mala worn by the Hindu girls. The threats and abuse were tied directly to that symbol, making their Hindu faith, not an unrelated personal dispute, the basis of the targeting. The Tulsi Mala carries deep devotional significance in Hindu Dharma, particularly within Vaishnava traditions. Tulsi is revered as sacred and closely associated with Lord Vishnu and Lord Krishna, while wearing Tulsi beads represents devotion, spiritual discipline and identification with the Hindu faith. The Mala therefore cannot be reduced to an ordinary necklace. Mocking a Hindu for wearing it attacks the religious meaning embodied by the symbol and, through that symbol, the devotee herself. The use of derogatory language against the Hindu students further intensified the religious hostility. Calling Hindus “hijra” as an insult was intended to humiliate and degrade them while they were already being targeted over their religious marker. The abuse was therefore not detached name-calling; it accompanied contempt for their Hindu identity and turned religious expression into a basis for public humiliation. The most serious marker was the explicit threat of sexual violence and murder. Threatening Hindu girls that they would be raped at night and killed because they wore Tulsi Mala transformed religious prejudice into a direct threat to their bodily safety and lives. Such language communicates that openly displaying Hindu identity can invite severe violence, thereby attempting to terrorise the victims into suppressing a religious practice. The connection between the threat and the sacred Mala is crucial. A violent threat against someone who merely happens to be Hindu can arise from countless personal causes. Here, the Hindu religious marker itself became the trigger for the hostility. The message conveyed was that the girls could face rape and death for visibly remaining Hindu, making the religious motive intrinsic to the intimidation. The targeting also struck at Hindus collectively because the Tulsi Mala represents a broader devotional tradition rather than a private characteristic unique to the two victims. When a sacred symbol is mocked, and its wearers are threatened for displaying it, the hostility extends beyond the immediate victims to the religious identity and practice represented by that symbol. It sends a wider message that visible Hindu devotion is something to be ridiculed, punished or driven out of the shared space. The sustained nature of the harassment added another layer of gravity. The Hindu girls described recurring threats and fear within the school environment, meaning the hostility was not confined to one fleeting insult. Repeated religiously targeted intimidation creates pressure on victims to hide or abandon visible expressions of faith simply to avoid further abuse. The treatment of the Tulsi Mala itself also carries the character of religious desecration and contempt within the Tracker’s framework. Sacred Hindu symbols derive their importance from the religious meaning Hindus attach to them. Reducing the Mala to an object of ridicule and making it the basis for threats deliberately dishonours what the symbol represents: devotion, faith and identification with Hindu Dharma. Taken together, the case involved mockery of a sacred Hindu symbol, derogatory abuse directed at Hindu students, and explicit threats of rape and murder tied directly to the display of Hindu identity. The religious marker was not incidental to the incident; it was central to the hostility. The conduct therefore constituted a direct attack on Hindu religious identity, the dignity of Hindu devotees and their freedom to visibly practise their faith without intimidation or fear. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incident dates based on when the victim’s ordeal or religiously targeted harassment began, rather than when the matter was subsequently reported. In this case, the exact date on which the threats, abuse and targeting of Hindu students over the Tulsi Mala began could not be ascertained. Therefore, 11th October 2026, the date of reporting, has been selected as the indicative incident date for documentation purposes.