Hindu temple priest and devotees harassed by a Muslim man in Chattisgarh

Case Summary
A Hindu priest and many Hindu devotees were harassed by a Muslim Congress leader named Nasir Ali Khan, member of the district Congress working committee in Jashpur district, Chattisgarh. According to media reports, the Muslim man behaved inappropriately with the priest of the Durga temple in the Bagicha area and disrupted the early morning religious prayers in the temple. He objected to the use of loudspeakers in the temple. He also harassed the Hindu devotees present there. The Hindu priest filed a police complaint against Nasir in the nearby police station under Sections 196(2) and 299 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Hindu organisations and local Hindu woman protested against this act and demanded Justice.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added as a religiously motivated crime under two prime categories of the tracker. The first is- Attack on Hindu religious representations. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Breaking rules of place of worship. 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. One of these oral traditions or written traditions is the rules of specific temples. Certain temples have rules which are traditional rules, dependent on the worship of the presiding deities. These rules and traditions have been followed for thousands of years whether they find scriptural mention or not. Such traditions are based on the nature and rules of worship of the presiding deity of that temple. Any non-compliance 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 presiding deity but also disregard for the faith of the devotees of that deity/temple and implicit bias against the faith, the tradition and the deity itself. Since these specific traditions are central to the faith of the devotees of that specific temple and presiding deity, any non-compliance with these traditional rules would be considered a religiously motivated hate crime. The second category under which this case has been placed is- Attack not resulting in death. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Attack against Hindu devotees. Hindu devotees are a few of the easiest targets of religiously motivated hate crimes because during the festival/procession/puja etc, for non-Hindus it is easy to profile their victims on the basis of religion. Hindu devotees come under attack on several occasions by individual non-Hindus or mobs of non-Hindus owing to their animosity against Hinduism, its symbols and tradition/practices. There are several instances of Hindu devotees being attacked while they worship in temples or temporary religious structures, during religious processions, doing bhajan/kirtan/puja in their own homes, in the residential society etc. These attacks are perpetrated by non-Hindus primarily because of their animosity towards Hindus and their faith. In some cases, the trigger for the violence may be non-religious, however, there are two elements that make these hate crimes. First, the Hindus who come under attack are attacked violently while indulging in religious activity. Whether they are in a place of worship or not is immaterial to the crime. When individuals are attacked while indulging in religious practices, the attack in itself is a hindrance to their freedom to practice religion and therefore constitutes a hate crime. Secondly, religious supremacist doctrines and ideologies deem religious practices of Hindus to be offensive ab initio since they are considered “sinful” by these ideologies, worthy to be annihilated by force or coercion. Driven by these religious supremacist ideologies and doctrines, the attacks against Hindu devotees stem from intrinsic animosity towards Hinduism. In some cases, the trigger for the violence may be non-religious, however, it develops into a religiously motivated crime during the course of the violence. Since these attacks stem from animosity towards Hindus and Hinduism, they are considered religiously motivated hate crimes under this category. Deliberately breaking the rules of a temple demonstrates a blatant lack of respect for religious traditions and reveals underlying Hinduphobia. In this case, the Muslim Congress leader disrupted temple prayers, harassed the priests and devotees, and objected to their religious practices. Such behaviour not only disregards the sanctity of the temple but also serves as an attack on the community's faith. This clear hostility towards Hindu customs and devotees justifies categorizing this incident as a religiously motivated hate crime in the tracker.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 1
- Female 0
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 1
- Unknown 0
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0

Case Status
Arrested

Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male