Hindus barred from celebrating Holi and threatened with expulsion from Muslim-majority village

Case ID : 90a0a61 | Location : Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 12 March, 2025

Case ID : 90a0a61

Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

12 March, 2025

Hindus barred from celebrating Holi and threatened with expulsion from Muslim-majority village

Attack not resulting in death

Communal clash/attack

Attacked to induce migration from non-Hindu dominated area

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Meni village, Ahmedabad, Hindus were reportedly not allowed to celebrate Holi by the Muslims of the village, who threatened them with expulsion. In a video that went viral on social media, a Hindu woman recounted that while she was taking food to the field, a man named Akbar Jheena ran towards her with a kodali (a type of spade) to attack her. He also prevented them from going to their field. Akbar threatened the Hindus to leave the village. A Hindu man named Amartbhai said, “They asked why do you celebrate Holi-Dhuleti. The PSI is a Muslim woman, so she does not listen to our complaint. The police said that there was nothing to worry about and that they would resolve everything, but they (Hindus) may have to leave the village.” Nitinbhai Chauhan of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad stated that the village population was around 40% Hindu and 60% Muslim, with nearby villages also being Muslim-majority. He said that Hindus had been harassed for the past two years and that Hindu women had been molested by Muslim men. In a recent incident, when a Hindu woman was molested and her husband protested, he was beaten by Muslim men. He further said that Hindus were threatened for celebrating Holi and that their requests for police protection were ignored. Police promptly registered complaints from Muslims but not from Hindus. Muslims dug up Hindu-owned land as a form of intimidation and said, “Any Hindu organisation that comes, we will not let you live in the village.” According to Chauhan, a Muslim named Usman Sama promised ₹50,000 to the Muslims if they stood firm and did not back down. He reportedly assured that this money would also be used to fight the case. Initially, the police refused to file a complaint from the Hindus or visit the site of the conflict. They only registered a case after a video highlighting the incident went viral on social media. The police attempted to downplay the issue, framing it as a land dispute. However, according to VHP, this narrative was an attempt to cover up the Holi-related conflict and whitewash the angle of hate and bigotry against Hindus.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker as a religiously motivated hate crime under the category- Attack not resulting in death. Within 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 selected is- Attacked to induce migration from non-Hindu dominated area. There have been cases where the Hindus living in an area, often with a majority dwelling belonging to non-Hindus or those harbouring animosity towards the Hindu faith, the Hindu residents experience threats and violence. The violence is employed with the aim of making the Hindus leave the area and relocate, so the area could be turned into an exclusive ghetto for adherents of the non-Hindu faith or those who harbor animosity towards the Hindu faith. In several cases, the aim of exodus is explicit. However, in several cases, the demand for exodus of Hindu residents is not explicit, however, violence by non-Hindu residents leaves the Hindu residents no option but to leave the area, thereby, turning the area into an exclusive ghetto of non-Hindu residents. In such cases, there are instances violence against the Hindu residents explicitly. For example, in the Hauz Qazi case of 2019, the Muslim residents claimed that mob violence against the Hindu residents had been triggered by a parking dispute. However, the violence did turn religious with a temple being desecrated and was directed specifically against the Hindu residents. The Hindu residents of the area were clear that the violence was religiously motivated and one of the motives was to affect an exodus of the Hindu residents. In such cases, even though the perpetrators have not explicitly expressed the aim of affecting exodus, the given circumstances and violence and precedent point to the intention of exodus and therefore would be categorized under this sub-category. Such crimes are religiously motivated and therefore are hate crimes. The third sub-category selected here is- Communal clash/attack. 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. Holi is an integral Hindu festival and preventing Hindus from observing their faith in their own village indicates an attempt to marginalise and suppress their religious practices, effectively erasing Hindu cultural presence in the area. The threats and intimidation tactics used in this case demonstrate a deliberate effort to curtail Hindu religious expressions in a Muslim-majority environment. Further, the aggression employed against Hindus in this instance like the attack on a Hindu woman by Akbar Jheena with a kodali (spade) and the physical assault on a Hindu man for protesting the molestation of his wife show that the targeting was not just symbolic but physical and violent. Such actions are not random but methodical, aimed at creating an atmosphere of fear where Hindus feel unsafe to celebrate their religious festivals or even live peacefully in the village. Moreover, by telling Hindus that they cannot celebrate their festival, and if they do, they must leave, the perpetrators are engaging in coercion to enforce religious dominance. This is a deliberate attempt to push out the Hindu minority from a Muslim-majority village, following a pattern of forced demographic shifts seen in various other incidents where Hindus have been systematically pushed out through threats, violence, and social boycotts. This case, therefore, fits into the broader framework of religiously motivated hate crimes, as it involves direct targeting of Hindus for their faith, attempts to prevent them from celebrating a Hindu festival, physical violence, and threats of forced migration.