Hindu youth brutally assaulted and humiliated by Muslim family for relationship with Muslim girl

Case ID : 9957d5a | Location : Darbhanga, Bihar, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 2 July, 2025

Case ID : 9957d5a

Darbhanga, Bihar, India

2 July, 2025

Hindu youth brutally assaulted and humiliated by Muslim family for relationship with Muslim girl

Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women

Attacked by non-Hindu partner or/and her family

Case Summary

In Darbhanga, Bihar, a Hindu boy named Gaurav Kumar Singh was brutally assaulted and humiliated by the Muslim girl’s brother for having an interfaith relationship. According to reports, the Hindu boy was in a consensual relationship with the Muslim girl, and they had been in love for over two years. On July 1, 2025, they decided to leave their homes and stayed together for two days in Samastipur before voluntarily returning on July 3. When the girl's family came to know about the relationship, they became furious. The girl's elder brother, who is a Muslim, along with other villagers, caught the Hindu boy, violently assaulted him, and subjected him to public humiliation. His head was forcibly shaved, and his face was smeared with soot. His physical condition indicated that he had been severely beaten. The police, after verifying the video and identifying the victim, confirmed the inhuman treatment inflicted on the boy. They also confirmed that both individuals are adults and were in a consensual relationship. As of the date of writing this report, the Muslim accused, the girl’s elder brother, has been arrested by the police, and the couple has been placed under police protection. The investigation was ongoing, and raids were underway to apprehend the remaining accused individuals.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of: - Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women. Within it. the sub-category 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/pressurizing 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/pressurized 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 him 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. This case qualifies as a religiously motivated hate crime because a Hindu man, Gaurav Kumar Singh, was brutally assaulted and publicly humiliated by a Muslim girl’s elder brother and other villagers in Darbhanga, Bihar, for being in a consensual interfaith relationship. The attackers shaved his head, blackened his face, and beat him severely—all acts intended to punish and shame him for his association with a Muslim woman. Importantly, both individuals were adults and were in a mutual relationship, yet the violence was inflicted solely because of the Hindu boy’s religious identity. 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 many such cases, the religious identity of the Hindu male partner 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 violence is often aimed at punishing the Hindu man for not adhering to Islamic norms in the context of a relationship with a Muslim woman. This was not simply a private family dispute—it was a targeted act rooted in communal and religious prejudice. The public nature of the assault and the humiliation inflicted indicate that this act was socially sanctioned within that context. It reflects a broader ecosystem of intolerance, where Hindu men are seen as transgressors for engaging in interfaith relationships with Muslim women. Gaurav’s assault was not incidental—it was deliberate and symbolic, aimed at reinforcing 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 a Hindu individual.