Hindu religious flag placed at Kali temple torn by Muslim women, Hindu women attacked for opposing
Mau, Uttar Pradesh, India 
25 October, 2025
Case Summary
In Mau, Uttar Pradesh, Muslim women tore down Hindu religious flags placed inside the Kali temple in the Manpur locality under the Bisheshwarkote police station area. When Hindu women performing rituals at the temple opposed the act, they were verbally attacked and obstructed from continuing their prayers. The incident occurred on 26 October 2025, when a group of Hindu women had gathered for regular puja and devotional singing. Witnesses stated that a group of Muslim women entered the temple premises and began removing the flags installed by devotees. When the Hindu women resisted and demanded an explanation, the Muslim women reportedly shouted at them and tried to stop their worship, leading to a heated confrontation. Soon, more women from both sides gathered, and the situation escalated into an intense altercation. Police from the Bisheshwarkote station reached the spot to control the crowd. To maintain order, five women were taken into custody, and cases were registered against eight individuals. The Kali temple, located on land under dispute between the temple management and the state department, had been a source of repeated tension. Local residents condemned the tearing of religious flags within temple premises as a deliberate act of provocation and disrespect toward the Hindu faith, demanding that the temple land be properly demarcated to prevent future incidents and to safeguard the sanctity of the site.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category in this case is: Attack on Hindu religious representations. The subcategory under this is: Desecration of Hindu religious symbol. Icons and symbols or a religious representation of a spiritual ideal are widely revered in Hinduism. Iconography is of vital significance in the Hindu milieu. It helps connect people’s spiritual beliefs with the real world. Iconography within the Hindu faith takes several shapes and forms. Murtis are of most significance to Hindus, to which daily rituals, prayers and offerings are done. Besides the murtis, there are several other symbols which have deep significance in the Hindu faith – the Om and Swastika for example. Since these Hindu religious symbols hold paramount importance in Hinduism, any desecration of symbols, icons, murtis, religious representations and manifestations, is driven by animosity towards the faith itself which manifests itself through these murtis, icons and symbols. Therefore, any desecration of these Hindu religious symbols and representations is considered religiously motivated hate crimes under this category. The other subcategory selected is- Attack on Temples. In Hinduism, a temple is the abode of the Deity. The Deity in the Temple is consecrated, thereby, making it a real, breathing entity. Hindus believe that not just the Deity but the temple premises itself are sacred to Hindus since Hindus hold the faith that the entire Temple space is an amalgamation of the divine energy of the deity. Given the central significance of Temples in Hindu Dharma, any attack against a Hindu Temple or its peripheral premises is an attack on the faith itself and is born out of animosity towards the faith, of which, the Temple is a central tenet. Any manner of attack against a Temple and/or its premises would therefore be considered a religiously motivated hate crime. The other category selected is- Attack not resulting in death, and within this, the subcategory selected is: Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim. In several cases, Hindus are attacked for opposing religiously motivated crimes being committed against a fellow Hindu or simply for voicing an opinion opposing radical elements, who either have in the past or continue to persecute Hindus. In such cases, the initial attack against the victim, against which the Hindu was trying to defend the victim, would also need to be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime. Since the initial crime itself was religiously motivated and the subsequent crime of attempting to save the victim or speaking against the radical elements ends up inviting a violent attack, it would also be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under this category. This case has been added to the tracker because it constitutes a deliberate act of hostility towards Hindu religious expression under the guise of a local dispute. The incident in Manpur, Mau, was not a spontaneous quarrel between two equal sides but a targeted disruption of Hindu worship and desecration of a religious symbol central to the faith. The Hindu women had gathered peacefully to perform rituals and prayers at the Kali temple when a group of Muslim women arrived and forcibly intervened. In the course of this intrusion, they tore down the saffron religious flags that had been placed within the temple premises, an act that carries explicit symbolic aggression towards Hindu belief and devotion. When the Hindu women objected to this desecration and attempted to continue their prayers, they were confronted and attacked, resulting in a wider altercation. The confrontation was thus initiated by the Muslim women who desecrated the flag, and it was this deliberate provocation that disturbed the peace. The tearing of the Hindu flag, placed in a sanctified space and associated with temple worship, cannot be understood as a mere outburst in a property disagreement. It directly insults the faith’s sacred symbols and attempts to assert dominance through the humiliation of those symbols and their worshippers. The religious flags at Hindu temples represent reverence, protection, and continuity of tradition. To tear them down is to reject that sanctity and to inflict an emotional and spiritual wound upon the devotees. Even though a bureaucratic dispute over the temple land may exist between the temple management and the state department, it does not justify or explain the intervention of non-Hindu individuals attempting to obstruct prayer or damage religious markers. The intent and execution of the act mark it as a hate-driven offence aimed at humiliating and intimidating the Hindu community. For these reasons, the case deserves inclusion in the Hinduphobia Tracker. It reflects both a direct assault on Hindu identity and an act of violence against those who sought to defend their right to worship peacefully.
Case Status
Complaint registered
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
female
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