Hindu man targeted by Muslims for opposing hoardings of Pakistani hate preacher Khadim Hussain Rizvi

Case ID : 34d6cbe | Location : Sant Kabir Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Mon, 23 September, 2024

Case ID : 34d6cbe

Sant Kabir Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, India

23 September, 2024

Hindu man targeted by Muslims for opposing hoardings of Pakistani hate preacher Khadim Hussain Rizvi

Hate speech against Hindus

Violent threats

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim

Case Summary

Ashish Kumar, a Hindu man residing in Mehdawal Nagar Panchayat, Sant Kabir Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, had reported the display of hoardings featuring radical Pakistani clerics Khadim Hussain Rizvi and his son Saad Hussain Rizvi during Milad-un-Nabi celebrations in September. After tweeting about the hoardings and subsequently filing a police complaint, two Muslim men were arrested. However, Kumar soon began receiving death threats. On September 24, 2024, two men visited his home and threatened him with severe consequences for his actions. This intimidation escalated, with another life threat received by Kumar on October 3. Concerned for his safety and that of his family, Kumar appealed to SP Satyajit Gupta for police protection, highlighting that those who had threatened him were still at large. While the SP assigned the case to the circle officer of Mehdawal and initiated a probe, Kumar expressed frustration that no substantial action had been taken against the perpetrators. Local Hindu organisations rallied around Kumar, expressing their support amid his ordeal. Khadim Hussain Rizvi, a Pakistani cleric and founder of the extremist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), is known for advocating for harsh blasphemy laws in Pakistan. His party has been linked to violent protests and has incited actions against those accused of blasphemy, promoting the dangerous slogan "Sar Tan se Juda" (beheading). Rizvi's rhetoric has inspired acts of violence, including the murder of individuals falsely accused of blasphemy. In one notable incident, a Pakistani student stabbed his professor in March 2019 after claiming blasphemy, reportedly motivated by Rizvi's teachings.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

Based on the details, this case has been classified as a hate crime and added to the tracker under two prime categories. The first is- Attack not resulting in death and under this, the sub-category selected is- Attacked for opposing radicals/or trying to save victim from radicals. In several cases, Hindus are attacked for opposing religiously motivated crimes being committed against a fellow Hindu or simply for voicing an opinion opposing radical elements, who either have in the past or continue to persecute Hindus. In such cases, the initial attack against the victim, against which the Hindu was trying to defend the victim, would also need to be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime. Since the initial crime itself was religiously motivated and the subsequent crime of attempting to save the victim or speaking against the radical elements ends up inviting a violent attack, it would also be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under this category. The second category relevant here is- Hate speech against Hindus, within which, the sub-category selected is- Violent threats. Violent threats, explicit, implicit or implied, is the most dangerous form of hate speech since it goes beyond discriminatory and prejudicial language to express the intent of causing harm to an individual or a group of people based on their religious identity and faith. There could be several different kinds of threats that are issued to Hindus based on religious animosity. An explicit threat would mean the direct threat of violence towards an individual Hindu, a group of Hindus or Hindus at large. Physical violence, death threats, threats of destruction of property belonging to Hindus and threats of genocide would mean explicit threats against Hindus for their religious identity. Implicit threats may not be a direct threat but implied through the use of symbols of actions – for example – in the Nupur Sharma case, other than explicit threats, there were also implicit threats when Islamists took to the streets to burn and beat her effigies. It implies that they want to do the same to Nupur Sharma – thereby is considered an implicit threat. Violent threats can be delivered in person, through letters, phone calls, graffiti, or increasingly through social media and other online platforms. It would be important to understand that a threat – explicit or implicit, online or offline – to an individual who happens to be a Hindu does not qualify as a religiously motivated threat. Such a threat, while vile and dangerous, could be owing to non-religious reasons and/or personal animosity. To qualify as a religiously motivated threat, it would need to exhibit an indication that the individual is being targeted for religious reasons and/or owing to his/her religious identity as a Hindu. In this case, Ashish Kumar’s actions in reporting the display of hoardings featuring radical Pakistani clerics, Khadim Hussain Rizvi and his son, reflect a stance against extremist ideologies and an attempt to stand up to the harmful influence of radical elements. It must be mentioned that Khadim Hussain Rizvi (1955-2020) was a notorious Islamic cleric, who launched a campaign to preserve the draconian blasphemy laws in Pakistan. He was popular across the country, especially in Pakistan’s most populous province of Punjab. In 2017, he organised widespread demonstrations that led to the death of at least six people and injured 200 others. During his lifetime, the radical Islamic preacher was at the helm of vicious anti-Hindu and anti-Sikh rhetoric that led to the marginalisation and ostracism of these religious communities in Pakistan. The Hindu youth's opposition to the notorious Islamic cleric and his son, known for their incitement of violence and blasphemy-related rhetoric, made him a target. The subsequent death threats he received highlight the hostility he faced for challenging the spread of radicalism. Given that the threats against Kumar were not merely personal attacks but were rooted in his religious identity as a Hindu who opposed the promotion of radicalism, this case has been added to the tracker.