Mahashivaratri procession attacked by a Muslim mob for playing religious music

Case ID : 7f64da2 | Location : Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 17 February, 2023

Case ID : 7f64da2

Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, India

17 February, 2023

Mahashivaratri procession attacked by a Muslim mob for playing religious music

Attack not resulting in death

Attack on religious procession

Attack against Hindu devotees

Attacked for crossing 'Muslim area'

Case Summary

At Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh, Muslim mob stopped a Mahashivratri procession and asked the organisers to shut the DJ playing religious music. As per reports, when Hindus refused, the Islamists started abusing Hindus. This led to a ruckus at the spot. After the Hindus refused to stop the music or change the route as demanded, the Islamists pelted stones at the procession. Reportedly, around half a dozen Hindu devotees were injured in this attack.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The outward celebration and display of religious symbols in an intrinsic part of Hinduism. Religious processions on various festivals are age-old traditions and a way to manifest faith and form a part of the religious practices of Hindus. On several occasions, such religious processions come under attack by non-Hindu mobs, in a manifestation of their animosity towards Hinduism and their practices. The reasons cited for such violent attacks are many and range from crossing a non-Hindu resident-dominated area to playing loud music, crossing from an area where there is a religious structure of another faith etc. The violent attacks are triggered by the outward display of religiosity by Hindus. The attacks are mainly a manifestation of religious supremacist doctrine which believes that idolatry, essentially the Hindu faith, is one that deserves to be annihilated since the very tenets of Hinduism, its practices and traditions are considered a sin in those doctrines. Since these attacks emanate from intrinsic and doctrinal animosity towards Hindus and Hinduism, it is considered a religiously motivated hate crime under this category. The other sub-category this case is being added to is 'attacked for crossing Muslim area'. One of the reasons that Hindus get attacked unprovoked specifically by Islamists is for crossing ‘Muslim areas’. Essentially, Muslim mobs often attack Hindus crossing or present in certain areas which have a majority Muslim population. It has often been cited as one of the reasons to blame Hindus for attacks against themselves, signalling that Hindus displaying religious symbols, taking our religious processions or crossing any area which is dominated by Muslim residents is a provocation in and of itself. These areas are mostly ghettoized areas where mobs mobilize quickly to attack Hindus for a variety of reasons like playing music during a religious procession, crossing a mosque, wearing a tilak or any other religious symbol in a Muslim-dominated area, praying at a local temple in that area etc. There have been cases where the few local Hindus of that area have been attacked on their way to the Temple for prayers as well, simply because the area is considered a Muslim-dominated area. Several times, it is entirely possible that the immediate trigger for the violence against Hindus was non-religious in nature, however, the violence became religiously motivated in nature because the area was Muslim dominated and the residents on the whole harboured animosity towards Hindus, evidenced from the actions of the mob, the slogans, and the nature of the attack. Such crimes are motivated by the religious identity of the victims and are therefore classified as hate crimes under this category. In this instance, the Muslim mob launched a vicious attack on a religious procession taken out by Hindu devotees on the occasion of Mahashivratri, a significant Hindu festival that is celebrated to commemorate Lord Shiva, one of the most revered Gods in Hinduism. Notably, there was no provocation from the Hindu side. The trigger for the attack on the procession was religious music being played by the Hindu devotees. The members of the Muslim community were the ones who initiated the attack by hurling stones at the Hindu devotees. Given that the fundamental motivation behind these actions is contempt for Hindus and their religion, this instance has been added to the tracker under the following category.