Hindu sentiments outraged: Muslim man makes derogatory remarks against Lord Ram and Sanatan Dharma
Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India 
26 October, 2025
Case Summary
A Muslim man named Anas Pathan, a resident of Shahbad locality in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, made derogatory remarks about Lord Ram through an Instagram reel, openly mocking and insulting the Hindu deity. The incident came to light after screenshots of the reel went viral, sparking outrage among the local Hindu community. Members of the Hindu organisation Bajrang Dal, led by city coordinator Kevdanand Gaur, immediately approached the Premnagar police station with the screenshots and demanded action against the offender. Based on their complaint, the police registered a case and arrested Anas Pathan. Upon checking his phone, authorities discovered that he had been repeatedly posting offensive content against Hindu deities for a long time, trying to disrupt communal harmony and incite religious discord in the area. His device also contained anti-national videos and literature, further pointing to an intent to spread divisive propaganda.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category in this case is: Hate speech against Hindus. The subcategory under this 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 out of 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 case has been added to the Hinduphobia Tracker because it represents a clear instance of religiously motivated hate speech targeting the Hindu faith and its sacred figures. The Muslim perpetrator, identified as Anas Pathan from Bareilly, deliberately posted a derogatory video mocking Lord Ram, a central deity in Hinduism. Such conduct is not an act of individual expression but a manifestation of deep-seated religious hostility intended to provoke, humiliate, and demean Hindus for their beliefs. The systematic denigration of Hindu gods, goddesses, and symbols is one of the most pervasive forms of anti-Hindu hate. In this instance, the act of mocking Lord Ram, a revered and universally worshipped figure in Hindu tradition, was a calculated attempt to offend the religious sentiments of an entire community. The nature of the content, along with the discovery of repeated anti-Hindu material and anti-national propaganda on the perpetrator’s phone, demonstrates that this was not an isolated lapse of judgment but part of a pattern of communal hostility and incitement. Religious mockery of this kind serves to normalise hatred against Hindus, reinforcing negative stereotypes and encouraging others to view the Hindu faith and its adherents as objects of ridicule. The intent behind such acts is to erode respect for Hinduism, disrupt social harmony, and assert religious dominance through verbal aggression and public humiliation. By directly attacking Lord Ram, a deity who embodies moral virtue and cultural identity for millions of Hindus, the perpetrator sought to strike at the emotional and spiritual foundation of the Hindu community. The repeated posting of such inflammatory material further reveals a conscious and premeditated effort to spread enmity on religious lines. Therefore, this incident qualifies as a hate crime against Hindus. It involves both verbal denigration and ideological aggression aimed at undermining Hindu identity through online hate speech and systematic propagation of anti-Hindu content. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case have specified the exact date on which the hate speech against Hindus was made. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the incident was reported in the media.
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
