Hindu family threatened with machete by Muslim neighbour over Kali Puja celebrations in Raiganj, West Bengal

Case ID : 30ab4a8 | Location : Uttar Dinajpur district, West Bengal, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 7 November, 2026

Case ID : 30ab4a8

Uttar Dinajpur district, West Bengal, India

7 November, 2026

Hindu family threatened with machete by Muslim neighbour over Kali Puja celebrations in Raiganj, West Bengal

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Raria village under Raiganj Police Station in Uttar Dinajpur, West Bengal, a Hindu family was abused and threatened with death by a Muslim neighbour during Kali Puja celebrations. On the night of November 8, 2026, during Kali Puja, the family was bursting firecrackers in front of their house as part of the festival. The locality was predominantly Muslim, with a few Hindu families living there. The confrontation began when a Muslim neighbour objected to the bursting of crackers and demanded that the victim go to the Kali Puja pandal and burst crackers. The victim told the accused that he was bursting crackers in front of his own house and not anywhere else. However, the Muslims returned with a meat cleaver and threatened the family with physical harm if they continued bursting crackers. In a video testimony, the victim stated that it was 8.30 in the evening when they were bursting crackers. This was in compliance with the government's restrictions on approved crackers and permitted hours. He also said the same Muslim neighbour objected to the family bursting firecrackers during Kali Puja the previous year as well. The earlier confrontation also arose over the family's firecracker use and celebration of Kali Puja, showing that the dispute between the family and the neighbour continued from the previous year's festival.

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 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 religious motivation in this case is evident from the repeated objections to the Hindu family's celebration of Kali Puja. The same Muslim neighbour had objected to the family's firecracker use during the previous year's festival as well, indicating a recurring pattern of hostility towards their Hindu religious observance. Kali Puja is an important Hindu festival dedicated to the worship of Maa Kali, and bursting firecrackers forms part of the festive celebrations for many Hindu families, particularly in West Bengal. The family's participation in these celebrations was therefore an expression of its religious practice. It is also important to note that the family lived in a predominantly Muslim locality, where Hindu households were few. The neighbour's repeated objections to their Kali Puja celebrations in this setting point to an exclusionary attitude towards Hindu religious expression in the neighbourhood. The demand that the family restrict its celebrations to the Kali Puja pandal, rather than burst crackers outside its own home, further reflects an attempt to dictate where and how Hindus could observe their religious festivals. Even if there were concerns about noise or compliance with firecracker regulations, these could have been addressed through lawful means. They did not justify threatening the family with a meat cleaver or intimidating them into abandoning their celebrations. The escalation from repeated objections during Kali Puja to threats of physical violence demonstrates the hostility directed at the family's religious observance. The fact that the same family faced opposition during the same Hindu festival across two consecutive years, culminating in threats with a weapon, establishes a pattern of targeted intimidation against Hindu religious expression. This was not simply a neighbourhood disagreement over firecrackers, but an attempt to suppress the family's freedom to celebrate its faith in its own home. At its core, the hostility stemmed from an intolerance of Hindu religious expression and an apparent belief that the family's observance of Kali Puja was unwelcome in a predominantly Muslim locality. The perpetrators' actions reflected an attempt to assert control over the religious practices of a Hindu minority and deny them the freedom to celebrate their faith without intimidation. This underlying religious prejudice was the fundamental motivation behind the threats and makes the incident a clear case of targeted anti-Hindu hostility.