Madhepura govt college denies permission to celebrate Saraswati Puja, threatens legal action on non-compliance
Madhepura, Bihar, India 
16 January, 2023
Case Summary
Saraswati Puja was prohibited on the Madhepura campus of BP Mandal Engineering College. The state administration's orders for Saraswati Puja or Vasant Panchami celebrations, to have been conducted on January 26, sparked outrage among the students of the college. The principal of the college, Arvind Kumar Amar, issued a written order to stop celebrations immediately. The District Magistrate in Samastipur threatened that an FIR would be filed against those playing DJ music during the festival. Furthermore, the students alleged that the principal and a teaching member named SD Singh locked certain students in a room and assaulted them. They were threatened with expulsion from college for non-compliance. Angered by the arbitrary decisions, students launched a protest against the college administration.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
Distinct elements in this particular case demonstrate that the crime was committed while harbouring a bias against the Hindu faith. Because of the case's specifics, we have put this case under two prime categories: Restriction/ban on Hindu practices and Attack not resulting in death. To narrow down the search further the sub-category 'Administration disallows religious procession' has been selected under the first core category. Further, the tertiary category selected here is 'Religious congregation/event'. Administration disallows religious procession: In several cases, it is seen that the administration/state disallows a religious procession owing to prejudicial orders and concerns, targeted specifically against the Hindu community. Such restriction/prohibition would be considered documented as a hate crime because the orders are often a result of pressure by groups that harbour animosity towards Hinduism and Hindus. Often, the restriction by the authorities is driven by bias, hostility, or prejudice against the specific community being stopped from holding a religious procession, by pressure groups that harbour animosity towards Hindus, intrinsic to their faith. Since the religious procession is inherent to the faith of the Hindus, such prejudicial restriction is considered a curtailing of the fundamental rights of the Hindu community. In several cases, for example, the authorities ban a Hindu religious procession due to pressure from groups opposed to the religion. In other instances, the prohibition is selectively enforced against one religious group (Hindus) while others are allowed to proceed. There are still other cases where the authorities preemptively restrict a religious process by Hindus because those who hold animosity towards Hindus may get “provoked” leading to them being violent, thereby assuaging the sentiments of those who hold animosity towards Hindus by curtailing the religious rights of Hindus. Such acts and orders are prejudiced, indicating discriminatory motives owing to the capitulation to groups that harbour animosity towards Hindus and therefore, would be categorized as a religiously motivated hate crime since the original pressure leading to the order itself is a result of hatred/bias/prejudice/religious hate against Hindus. Further, the sub-category 'Attacked for Hindu identity' has been selected under the second prime category, Attack not resulting in death, relevant here. 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. Here, the authorities of a government-run college denied Hindu students permission to celebrate Vasant Panchami, a major Hindu festival dedicated to the worship of the Hindu goddess Saraswati. The principal of the college issued a written order to stop celebrations immediately. The District Magistrate threatened the students with an FIR for playing DJ music during the festival. Furthermore, the principal and a teaching member locked certain students in a room and assaulted them. All these actions point towards religious intolerance reflecting animosity towards the Hindu faith. Such actions not only violate the principles of religious freedom but also contribute to an atmosphere of discrimination and exclusion. Given that the fundamental motivation behind these actions is contempt for the Hindu religion, this instance has been added to the tracker under the following category.
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
State and Establishment
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
