Hindu YouTuber receives death threats; brother brutally assaulted by Muslim youths over video opposing illegal cow slaughter

Case ID : 90a07fa | Location : Jhalawar, Rajasthan, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 6 February, 2025

Case ID : 90a07fa

Jhalawar, Rajasthan, India

6 February, 2025

Hindu YouTuber receives death threats; brother brutally assaulted by Muslim youths over video opposing illegal cow slaughter

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim

Hate speech against Hindus

Violent threats

Case Summary

A Hindu YouTuber named Shubham Patidar, a resident of Bhavani Mandi, Jhalawar, Rajasthan has been receiving death threats from some Muslim youths for posting two videos on social media, which these Muslims took offence to. His brother was assaulted. The Muslim youths also made videos with weapons in which they threatened to kill Shubham. The first video that irked the Muslims was a rebuttal video against AIMIM's Owaisi, remarking on his frequent 15-minute genocidal calls, where he throws an open challenge to Hindus for their survival if the police were to be removed for 15 minutes. In the second video, the Hindu YouTuber raised his voice against illegal cow smuggling and slaughtering and questioned the Hindu community for not taking action on these issues. In response, Muslims threatened to kill Shubham. On February 7, Javed and 15 others arrived at the factory where Shubham and his brother Ankit were employed. Since Shubham was on leave, they assaulted Ankit and warned that Shubham would be killed. Ankit mentioned that they reside in a Muslim-majority area where Hindus lack unity. He also shared that they come from a middle-class family, with their father working as a labourer and three unmarried sisters. The brothers feared for their lives, saying things may get worse, as they are the sole breadwinners of the family. The region where Shubham stays is reportedly a Muslim-majority area, and cow smuggling is rampant there. When Shubham reached out to the police, they did not take any action and instead asked him to focus on his studies. The police only filed an FIR when journalist Shubhi Vishwakarma of the Organiser web portal posted about this incident on her X handle. The police filed a case against the accused and arrested them.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added as a religiously motivated hate crime under two prime categories of the tracker. The first is- Attack not resulting in death. Under this, the first sub-category 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 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. The second sub-category under which this case has been placed 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. The second category relevant here is- Hate speech against Hindus and within this, the sub-category selected is- Violent threats. Violent threats, explicit, implicit or implied, is the most dangerous form of hate speech since it goes beyond discriminatory and prejudicial language to express the intent of causing harm to an individual or a group of people based on their religious identity and faith. There could be several different kinds of threats that are issued to Hindus based on religious animosity. An explicit threat would mean the direct threat of violence towards an individual Hindu, a group of Hindus or Hindus at large. Physical violence, death threats, threats of destruction of property belonging to Hindus and threats of genocide would mean explicit threats against Hindus for their religious identity. Implicit threats may not be a direct threat but implied through the use of symbols of actions – for example – in the Nupur Sharma case, other than explicit threats, there were also implicit threats when Islamists took to the streets to burn and beat her effigies. It implies that they want to do the same to Nupur Sharma – thereby is considered an implicit threat. Violent threats can be delivered in person, through letters, phone calls, graffiti, or increasingly through social media and other online platforms. It would be important to understand that a threat – explicit or implicit, online or offline – to an individual who happens to be a Hindu does not qualify as a religiously motivated threat. Such a threat, while vile and dangerous, could be owing to non-religious reasons and/or personal animosity. To qualify as a religiously motivated threat, it would need to exhibit an indication that the individual is being targeted for religious reasons and/or owing to his/her religious identity as a Hindu. The sequence of events reveals that Shubham Patidar was targeted specifically for his Hindu identity and for voicing concerns over issues that are deeply connected to Hindu religious beliefs, such as illegal cow smuggling and slaughtering. The fact that his criticisms of Asaduddin Owaisi’s inflammatory statements against Hindus and illegal cow smuggling and slaughtering led to violent threats and physical assault indicates that the perpetrators were driven by religious animosity. The assault on Shubham’s brother, Ankit, further reinforces the religiously motivated nature of the attack. Since Shubham was on leave at the time, the attackers specifically went after his brother, issuing a direct threat to kill Shubham, demonstrating a clear intent to silence his voice through intimidation and violence. Moreover, the issuance of death threats, including videos where armed individuals threatened to kill him, showcases an explicit attempt to instil fear and suppress freedom of expression through violent intimidation. This crime is not just an individual act of violence but part of a broader pattern where those who challenge Islamist radicalism or defend Hindu religious concerns are met with threats and violence, making it a clear case of a religiously motivated hate crime. Consequently, this case has been added to the tracker.