Hindu goddess mocked on social media by government employee in Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh
Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh, India 
30 November, 2025
Case Summary
A government employee, Santosh Verma, posted disrespectful content on social media about the Hindu goddess Kamakhya, a revered symbol of the famous Shakti Peeth in Assam. In his Facebook post, Verma mocked the goddess for failing to stop the thieves from looting the temple. The incident sparked widespread anger among devotees, who believed his actions were inappropriate for someone in public service. Santosh Verma is posted as Assistant Grade-3 in the Chhatarpur District Collectorate’s election branch. As soon as the post went viral, sharp reactions erupted on social media. Hindu organisations condemned it as an insult to religious sentiments and staged a protest outside the collectorate. Local residents said that such behaviour from someone in government service is a clear example of indiscipline. The district administration has not issued an official statement yet, but sources indicate that an inquiry into the post has begun. The accused, however, claims that he did not make the post. Ravi Pandey, a religious leader from Chhatarpur, said, “This is an attack on our faith. As a government employee, Santosh Verma carries an even greater responsibility. We demand that the Collector suspend him immediately, otherwise we will take to the streets. Insults to Hindu deities will not be tolerated.” Hindu groups have submitted a memorandum to the Collector demanding an FIR, suspension, and a departmental inquiry against the accused employee.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category: Hate Speech against Hindus. Within this, the subcategory selected is: Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith. Anti-Hindu slurs and the deliberate mocking of the Hindu faith owing to religious animosity involve the usage of derogatory terms, stereotypes, or offensive references to religious practices, symbols, or figures. One of the common anti-Hindu slurs used against Hindus is “cow-worshipper” and “cow piss drinker”. The intention of using this term is to demean and mock Hindus as a group and their religious beliefs since Hindus consider the cow holy. Additionally, some symbols and the slurs attached to them have a historical context that exacerbates the insult, hate, stereotyping, dehumanisation and oppression against Hindus. Cow worship has been used for centuries to denigrate Hindus, insult their faith and oppress Hindus specifically as a religious group. There has been overwhelming documentation about how cow slaughter has been used to persecute Hindus, with cow meat being thrown in temples and places of worship. There has also been overwhelming documentation where cow meat (beef) has been force-fed to Hindus to either forcefully convert them to Islam or denigrate their faith. Apart from cow worship, the Swastika, which holds deep religious significance for the Hindus, has also been misinterpreted and distorted to use as a slur against Hindus. Similarly, the worship of the Shivling has been used by supremacist ideologies and religions to denigrate Hindus owing to religious animosity. Such slurs and denigration stem from inherent animosity and hate towards Hindus and their faith; therefore, it is categorised as hate speech targeted at Hindus specifically owing to their religious identity. This is a clear case of hate speech directed against Hindus and their religious beliefs. The government employee used sarcasm to mock a revered Hindu goddess and, by extension, the Hindu belief system itself. By making remarks such as “she could not do anything and simply stood there watching”, he trivialised a serious crime involving the faith and dignity of Hindus and turned it into a joke. Such conduct moves beyond casual irreverence and becomes outright mockery of Hindu deities and their followers. The taunt used in the post reflects a familiar pattern where Hindu beliefs are delegitimised by questioning the power or sanctity of Hindu deities. This form of ridicule has frequently been used by individuals hostile to Hinduism. They respond to reports of desecration of temples and murtis by sneering, “If your Gods are real, why did they not protect themselves?” Such remarks are designed to belittle Hindu faith, insinuating that Hindu deities are powerless or unreal. Santosh Verma echoed this same pattern of derision, reducing a revered deity to an object of ridicule and implying that Hindu Gods lack any sanctity or divine agency. This amounts not only to mockery but to religiously motivated hate speech. Comments of this nature deepen prejudice and normalise an environment where the desecration of Hindu places of worship is dismissed or laughed at. For these reasons, the incident is being added to the Hinduphobia Tracker’s hate crime database. 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 statement was posted on Facebook. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the incident was reported in the media: 01 December 2025.
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Others
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
