Dawood Ansari vandalises crosses in St Michael’s Church cemetery in Mumbai, Hindus get blamed
Mahim, Maharashtra, India 
6 January, 2023
Case Summary
One Dawood Ibrahim Mohammad Yakub Ansari was arrested by Mumbai police for vandalising crosses at Mahim’s St Michael’s Church cemetery. At least 18 tombstones, crosses and other structures at the 400-year-old Church were vandalised. Ansari was tracked using CCTV footage of the cemetery. While the police initiated the investigation and looked for the culprit, the liberal section of the social media platforms started blaming Hindus for the vandalism.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the category of 'Hate speech against Hindus' and under this, the sub-category selected is- Anti Hindu subversion and prejudice. To refine the search further, a tertiary category has also been selected here, which is- Mislabelling/Misrepresentation of perpetrator's religion as Hindu. Hate speech is defined as any speech, gesture, conduct, writing, or display that is prejudicial against a specific individual and/or group of people, which is leading to or may lead to violence, prejudicial action or hate against that individual and/or group. Media plays a specific and overarching reach in perpetuating prejudicial attitudes towards a community owing to unfair, untrue coverage and/or misrepresentation/misinterpretation, selective coverage and/or omission of facts of/pertaining to issues affecting a specific religious group. This type of bias can dehumanise the victim group, making it easier for others to justify harmful actions against them, which aligns with the objectives of hate speech laws aimed at preventing such harm. It is often observed that the media takes a prejudicial stand against the Hindu community driven by their need to shield the aggressor community which happens to be a numeric minority, however, is the one perpetrating violence against Hindus. For example, the media is often quick to contextualise religiously motivated crimes against Hindus, omit or misrepresent facts that point towards religiously motivated hate crimes, justify and/or downplay religiously motivated hate crimes or simply present fake news to stereotype Hindus. Such media bias leads to the denial of persecution and is often used to dehumanise Hindus, leading to justification for violence against them. For example, the media covered several fake allegations of Hindus targeting Muslims and forcing them to chant Jai Shree Ram. Most of these cases were proved false and fabricated after police investigation. These fake news reports were subsequently never retracted or clarified. Such fake news led to the justification of violence and dehumanisation of Hindus based on the argument that since Hindus targeted Muslims and forced them to chant Jai Shree Ram, the dehumanisation of Hindus and violence against them was par for the course and merely a retaliation. Such media bias leads to prejudicial portrayal of Hindus and offers a justification for violence against them and therefore, is considered hate speech under this category. Religiously motivated hate crimes can be overt crimes, where people are physically attacked or their religious rights denied due to inherent hate against those people. But another important aspect of hate crimes is that some of them hinge on intent. In this case, elements, including media persons, assuming that the perpetrators of a crime were Hindus reveals the chilling, dehumanising effect of a community born out of disdain and prejudice against a community, which is sans evidence and facts.
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Others
Perpetrators Range
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