Sar Tan Se Juda slogans raised by Muslims in Bhadohi, UP, following “I Love Muhammad” controversy in Kanpur
Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh, India 
18 September, 2025
Case Summary
Sar Tan Se Juda slogans were raised in the Bhadohi district of Uttar Pradesh when hundreds of Muslim youths took out processions in the Kotwali and Aurai Kotwali areas. Videos of the rallies showed crowds shouting “Gustakh-e-Nabi ki ek hi saza, Sar Tan Se Juda”, openly calling for beheadings in the name of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The incident triggered communal tension across Bhadohi and quickly spread online after the videos went viral. Palestinian flags were also raised during the rallies. The chants were linked to the ongoing “I Love Muhammad” controversy in Kanpur, which Islamists had used as a pretext to target Hindus and provoke unrest. Superintendent of Police Abhimanyu Manglik ordered immediate action once informed of the processions. Multiple police teams were deployed to identify the participants, many of whom were caught on video. More than 18 Muslim youths were taken into custody, and FIRs were registered in both Kotwali areas under stringent sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Police confirmed that Section 163 of the BNS, which deals with disturbing public peace and using inflammatory speech, was violated during the demonstrations. Interrogations of detained youths are ongoing. The raising of Sar Tan Se Juda slogans in Bhadohi added to the growing trend of violent threats being normalised in public processions, spreading fear among Hindus. This incident came in the aftermath of another communal flashpoint in Uttar Pradesh. On 5 September 2025, during a Barawafat procession in Rawatpur, Kanpur, Muslim youths used sticks to deliberately damage Hindu posters displayed in a local neighbourhood. The act followed a dispute the previous day, when an “I Love Muhammad” light board was installed in front of Zafar Wali Gali for the Barawafat observance. Residents objected, leading police to relocate the board. Despite the police clarifying that the FIR in Kanpur was filed specifically for the destruction of Hindu posters, and not for removing the “I Love Muhammad” board, a distorted narrative spread across the country that the FIR was linked to the banner. This falsehood fuelled nationwide protests, where Sar Tan Se Juda slogans were raised as a violent threat against Hindus.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category under this is: Hate speech against Hindus. The subcategory under this 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. This case has been added to the Hinduphobia Tracker because it represents a direct instance of violent, targeted hate speech against Hindus. The raising of Sar Tan Se Juda slogans in Bhadohi was not merely a demonstration of personal or political opinion, but a public and explicit call for the beheading of individuals based on their religious identity. These slogans are inherently designed to intimidate, terrorise, and instil fear in the Hindu community, conveying a clear threat of lethal violence. Moreover, the Bhadohi processions were accompanied by the display of Palestinian flags. While superficially appearing as a foreign political stance, this display is ideologically linked to extremist narratives that prioritise loyalty to the Muslim Ummah over Indian national identity. It is pertinent to note that Muslims harbour a specific animosity towards Hindus and the Hindu collectivity, viewing India historically as a land in which Islam could not thrive alongside a Hindu majority. The pro-Palestine slogans in this instance are therefore not neutral geopolitical expressions; they serve as symbols of allegiance to a transnational Muslim community and as indirect expressions of anti-Hindu sentiment. By elevating a Muslim collectivity abroad while engaging in violent threats locally, the participants signal that their primary loyalty is to the Ummah and that the Hindu population is an oppositional collective. The Bhadohi incident cannot be viewed in isolation. Its roots lie in the Kanpur Barawafat procession, where Muslim youths deliberately desecrated Hindu religious posters. The FIR filed there makes this clear, recording the destruction of Hindu symbols as the central offence, not the fabricated claim about the “I Love Muhammad” board. This official record establishes beyond doubt that the unrest began with an anti-Hindu act. The violent Sar Tan Se Juda slogans in Bhadohi must therefore be understood as a continuation of the same hostility that started in Kanpur. What began with the physical desecration of Hindu posters escalated into open calls for beheadings, amplified through public rallies, Palestinian flags, and viral videos. Together, they form a single chain of intimidation aimed squarely at Hindus. The combination of Sar Tan Se Juda slogans and pro-Palestine flags makes this a multidimensional hate crime. On one hand, the explicit violent threat targets Hindus individually and collectively. On the other, the display of transnational Muslim symbolism communicates ideological supremacy and reinforces the perception of Hindus as a subordinate or illegitimate community within India. This is not a spontaneous or isolated act; it reflects a strategic pattern by which radicalised Islamist groups in India seek to assert control, intimidate the Hindu community, and cultivate a culture of fear. The slogans, visual symbols, and public staging of the event all serve as instruments to communicate a single, chilling message: that Hindu identities are under threat and that violence against Hindus is both sanctioned and celebrated. Furthermore, this incident is part of a broader chain of events following the targeting and vandalisation of Hindu posters during a Barawafat procession in Rawatpur, Kanpur, linked to the disputed “I Love Muhammad” banner. The deliberate destruction of Hindu religious posters, compounded by the nationwide circulation of a distorted narrative claiming the FIR pertained to the removal of the banner, created a climate in which Sar Tan Se Juda slogans were raised as violent threats. These slogans were not isolated provocations; they were embedded in a continuum of communal targeting, intimidation, and symbolic assertion of Islamist dominance over Hindu communities. Documenting this case in the Hinduphobia Tracker underscores the broader context of religiously motivated intimidation in Uttar Pradesh and beyond. Sar Tan Se Juda, a slogan with origins among radical Islamist groups in Pakistan, has over the years been adopted by extremists across South Asia as a call to execute those accused of blasphemy or perceived affronts to Islam. “Gustakh-e-Rasool ki Ek hi saza, sar tan se Juda, sar tan se Juda,” which translates to “There is only one punishment for being disrespectful to Rasool (Prophet Muhammad): their head separated from their torso,” is an Islamist clarion call that has become a staple feature of violent protests that have so far claimed the lives of at least six Hindus, including Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur and Umesh Kolhe in Amravati, after Muslim fundamentalists, egged on by the dog-whistling of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, resorted to violence for what they perceived as ‘blasphemy’ against Prophet Muhammad. From Kanpur in India’s northern plains to the southern metropolis of Bengaluru, from Kolkata in the east to Hyderabad in the south, protests in the name of blasphemy have erupted in almost every corner of the country as Islamists took to the streets running amok and shouting Sar Tan Se Juda chants over the perceived belief of blasphemy against the Prophet. Its use in Bhadohi demonstrates the transnational spread of violent Islamist rhetoric and the way it is employed strategically against Hindus in India to enforce ideological dominance. This incident, therefore, is not only an act of localised intimidation but part of a continuum of Islamist tactics aimed at terrorising Hindus, undermining their security, and asserting the primacy of the Ummah over Hindu collectivity. In addition, the involvement of hundreds of Muslim youths, many of whom are minors, highlights the systemic nature of radicalisation and the deliberate grooming of young individuals to participate in hate-driven acts. The public nature of the processions, the circulation of videos on social media, and the symbolic reinforcement through flags and slogans collectively magnify the psychological impact on Hindus. Such acts are meant to convey that the Hindu community is under constant surveillance and threat, thereby enforcing a climate of fear, submission, and intimidation. For these reasons, this case is classified as a religiously motivated hate crime and recorded in the Hinduphobia Tracker. It illustrates both the explicit threat of lethal violence through 'Sar Tan Se Juda' slogans and the implicit assertion of transnational Islamist loyalty and anti-Hindu ideology through the display of Palestinian flags. It is important to highlight here that despite the flawed narrative peddled in the aftermath, the incident in Kanpur was clearly anti-Hindu in nature. The core trigger was not the removal of an “I Love Muhammad” banner, as was widely circulated, but the desecration of Hindu religious posters. The FIR itself records this fact, serving as official evidence that the sequence of events began with an attack on Hindu symbols. Accordingly, the desecration of Hindu posters, the subsequent protests where Muslims are taking to the streets and raising violent sar tan se juda slogans, waving Palestinian flags, have been included in the tracker. Each of these acts is a direct expression of hostility toward Hindus and their religion, leaving little doubt about their targeted nature. At the same time, while several attacks on police officials have also occurred, these are not being documented as individual cases in the Hinduphobia Tracker. The violence against law enforcement arose because the FIR named members of the Muslim community for desecrating Hindu posters, which made the police appear as indirectly siding with Hindus. In this sense, the attacks on authorities can also be seen as an extension of the same hostility that was originally directed against Hindus. However, since the assaults were aimed at state authority rather than Hindus themselves, and because the tracker follows extremely strict parameters, we are not adding these incidents as individual entries in the tracker. Disclaimer: The perpetrator count for this case has been recorded as 18, reflecting the number of individuals who were formally taken into custody by police in Bhadohi in connection with the incident. While video evidence shows that hundreds of Muslim youths participated in the processions where Sar Tan Se Juda slogans were raised and Palestinian flags were waved, the tracker follows a strict evidentiary standard. To avoid inflating numbers or relying on unverified estimates, only those directly named or detained in official police action are included in the count. This will be updated if more details emerge through police investigations, court proceedings, or other verified sources.
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 10 to 100
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
