Hindu woman and her children attacked by Muslim men over petty dispute leading to communal tension

Case ID : 90a076d | Location : Prayagraj (Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 7 February, 2025

Case ID : 90a076d

Prayagraj (Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh, India

7 February, 2025

Hindu woman and her children attacked by Muslim men over petty dispute leading to communal tension

Attack not resulting in death

Communal clash/attack

Case Summary

In Dorha village, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, a minor dispute over parking a bicycle took a serious violent turn when a few Muslims entered the house of a Hindu woman and beat her up along with her children. The victim's name was Geeta Devi who was alone in her house when the incident took place and her husband, Dara Yadav, was not present in the house. The attackers went on to even attack the three children. Geeta filed a police complaint but her condition got critical. A communal dispute broke out between Hindus and Muslims in that area.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case is being added to the primary category 'attack not resulting in death' under the sub-category 'communal clash'. Communal clash is a form of collective violence that involves clashes between groups belonging to different religious identities. For a communal clash between Hindus and non-Hindus to qualify as a religiously motivated hate crime, the trigger of the violence itself would have to be anti-Hindu in essence. For example, if there is a Hindu religious procession that comes under attack from a non-Hindu mob and after the initial attack, Hindus retaliate in self-defence, leading to a communal clash between the two religious communities. While at a later stage, both communities are involved in the clash/violence, the initial trigger of the violence was by the non-Hindu mob against the Hindus and therefore, it could safely be termed as an anti-Hindu violence. Further, the trigger would also have to be religiously motivated. In the cited example, the attack by the non-Hindu mob was against religious processions and therefore, can be concluded to be religiously motivated. In some cases, the trigger may be non-religious, however, it develops into religious violence against Hindus at a later stage. In such cases too, the foundational animosity towards Hindus becomes the motivating factor of the crime and therefore, it would be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime against Hindus under this category. In this case, the Hindu woman and her three children were brutally attacked by a Muslim mob over a petty dispute over a bicycle. Thereafter, there was communal tension prevailing in the area. While the trigger of the violence itself was non-religious, the subsequent violence can be considered religiously motivated since it was a Hindu family who was attacked by a Muslim mob, leading to Hindus and Muslims coming face to face in the area. The area also has a history of communal tension between the two communities. The communal tension which prevailed points towards the underlying animosity that the Muslim community harbours for the Hindus of the area, owing to their religious identity and therefore, this case is being categorised as a religiously motivated hate crime.