Hindu mother and son attacked by Muslim girl’s family over interfaith marriage in Barmer, Rajasthan

Case ID : 8da19c7 | Location : Barmer, Rajasthan, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 20 November, 2025

Case ID : 8da19c7

Barmer, Rajasthan, India

20 November, 2025

Hindu mother and son attacked by Muslim girl’s family over interfaith marriage in Barmer, Rajasthan

Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women

Attacked by non-Hindu partner or/and her family

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

On 21 November 2025, a Hindu woman, Santosh Devi, and her son Sawai were violently assaulted outside their home in Barmer, Rajasthan. As they were preparing to leave in their car, 7–8 Muslim neighbours — including Manju, Ghulam, and Alisar — surrounded them and attacked Sawai with sticks and rods. The assault was triggered by Sawai’s interfaith marriage with a woman belonging to the Muslim community. Both the mother and the son sustained injuries, and the attackers also caused significant damage to their vehicle. She stated that the group issued repeated death threats during the assault and shouted that Sawai’s car would not be allowed to remain in the area. Shantosh Devi explained that Sawai and a Muslim woman from the neighbourhood named Razia, later known as Radhika, had married each other in their own free will. Razia subsequently returned to her family, and the Muslim side had since filed a case against Sawai, where the Muslim woman gave a statement in favour of her family. Santosh Devi stated that the violent attack and the threats made were linked to this ongoing dispute. Following the attack, the situation raised concerns about communal tension in Barmer. Police officials, including the ASP and local station staff, responded immediately to the scene. Additional police and RAC personnel were deployed in sensitive areas to prevent escalation. The police secured the damaged car, moved the gathered crowd away, and detained several suspects as part of the ongoing investigation.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the first primary category: Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women. Within this, the subcategory selected is: Attacked by non-Hindu partner or/and her family. When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the man is forced to convert his religion, and upon his refusal to do so, the partner or/and her family attacks the victim. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu woman known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu woman or her family starts forcing/pressurising the Hindu man to convert. In some of these cases, the association could be non-consensual as well, or the religious identity of the non-Hindu woman could be previously unknown to the Hindu victim. In such cases, the Hindu man is first forced/pressured to change his religion by the non-Hindu woman or her family. The force/pressure could involve threats. The trigger for directing violence against the Hindu man is, in these cases, his refusal to comply and change his religion under threat and/or force. In other cases that have been documented, it is also seen that the Hindu partner is assaulted by the non-Hindu woman or her family simply for his relationship with the non-Hindu woman and by virtue of his following the Hindu faith and not the religion of the non-Hindu woman. In such cases, the relationship is consensual in most cases, and the religion of both partners is known to the other. Often, in such cases, there is no direct force/pressure to convert either; however, the attack is a result of the Hindu man being in a relationship with the non-Hindu partner and not following her religion/following Hinduism specifically. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. The second primary category selected here is: Attack not resulting in death. Within this, the subcategory selected is: Attacked for Hindu identity. 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 the 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. In this case, a Hindu mother and son were brutally attacked by their Muslim neighbours. The violence inflicted upon the Hindu victims was not random or merely interpersonal; it was directly connected to their religious identity and the son's marriage to a Muslim woman. The brutal attack by the Muslim girl’s family was triggered by their disapproval of the Hindu identity of the victims. The assault was not merely an act of family opposition to an interfaith marriage; rather, it was a deliberate, premeditated, and targeted attack rooted in hostility towards Hinduism. It is important to note that both Sawai and Razia/Radhika were adults and consciously made the decision to get married. Despite this, Sawai and his mother were brutally assaulted and threatened, highlighting that the hostility was directed specifically at the victims for being Hindu. Such actions go far beyond personal outrage and reflect a deeper religious hostility. Also, the Muslim family had already registered a case against the victim, which was subjudice as per the writing of this report. Hence, the unprovoked attack and its brutality reflect a deeper hatred rooted in disdain for the religious identity of the victims. The intensity and nature of the violence demonstrate not only a desire to cause grievous harm but also to punish the Hindu man for daring to be in a relationship and marry a Muslim woman. The calculated and deliberate violence and its intensity underscore the profound hostility at the heart of this crime. This was not simply a matter of personal vengeance, but rather a stark manifestation of communal hatred. This incident falls into a broader and disturbing pattern where Hindu men are targeted specifically for being in relationships with Muslim women. These assaults are often framed as matters of "honour," but the underlying motivation is deeply religious. In the Islamic faith, a marriage is considered invalid if a Muslim woman marries a non-Muslim man who does not convert to Islam. In many such cases, the religious identity of the Hindu male partner, or his family, becomes the key trigger for violence, especially when there is no conversion to Islam. Even if conversion is not directly demanded in every case, the death threats or violence are often aimed at punishing the Hindu man for not adhering to Islamic norms in the context of a relationship with a Muslim woman. It reflects a broader ecosystem of intolerance, where Hindu men are seen as transgressors for engaging in interfaith relationships or marriages with Muslim women. This assault was not incidental—it was deliberate and symbolic, aimed at enforcing religious boundaries through violence. For these reasons, the case is being added to the tracker as a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime against Hindu individuals. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when an event occurred or when the victim's ordeal began. It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case has specified the exact date when the marriage occurred or the feud started. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the assault happened: 21 November 2025.