Case Summary

A Hindu man was assaulted by Muslims in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh, for objecting theft of diyas or lighting lamps on Diwali night. The incident occurred late on 24 October 2025 in Sheikhwapur Angrasi village under the Talgaon police station area, leaving the victim, Vivek Verma alias Shyamu (27), seriously injured with a broken leg. He was admitted to Sitapur District Hospital, where he was undergoing treatment at the time of writing this report. The violence began when Vivek, while lighting lamps outside his home for Diwali, stopped some local Muslim children who were collecting burnt diyas. The children went home and falsely claimed they had been beaten and abused, triggering tension between the two communities. Villagers initially intervened to calm the situation, but the conflict reignited later on 24 October. According to the complaint filed by Vivek's brother, a group led by Abdul Master, son of Mohammad Yunus, and including his sons Anas and Adil, along with Tajuddin, Riazuddin, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Sameer, Rizwan, and Mohammad Islam, ambushed Vivek as he was walking to his field. Around 10 to 15 other men, armed with sticks and hockey sticks, attacked him brutally. Hearing Vivek’s cries, villagers rushed to the scene, but the assailants fled while issuing threats. Police registered a case based on a complaint filed by Vivek’s brother, Shivam Verma, against nine identified and ten to fifteen unidentified men. Authorities launched search operations to arrest the accused, and the atmosphere in the village remained tense.

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Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category in this case is: Attack not resulting in death. The subcategory under this 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. This case has been added to the Hinduphobia Tracker as a clear instance of a targeted assault on a Hindu man for opposing radical behaviour and upholding his faith during a sacred Hindu celebration. The victim, Vivek Verma, was attacked after he objected to a group of Muslim children stealing diyas that had been lit outside Hindu homes on Diwali night — an act that holds deep spiritual meaning in Hinduism, symbolising devotion, purity. Vivek’s objection, a peaceful act of defending a religious ritual, was met with disproportionate and organised violence. Later that night, a mob of 25 Muslim men, led by local residents, ambushed and brutally assaulted him, leaving him severely injured with a fractured leg. This incident reflects a wider pattern in which Hindus who defend their customs or oppose acts of disrespect toward their faith are violently targeted, often by groups seeking to assert dominance or suppress Hindu expressions of belief. The attack on Vivek, timed precisely during Diwali celebrations, represents more than personal animosity — it signifies contempt for Hindu religious practice itself and a desire to humiliate Hindus in moments of devotion. The troubling aspect of this case is that the initial perpetrators were minors. Children’s minds are highly impressionable, and they absorb the biases, prejudices, and hatreds present in their surroundings. When exposed to sustained anti-Hindu sentiment, they internalise intolerance and reproduce it through their actions. The fact that Muslim children instigated this violence against a Hindu devotee performing Diwali rituals illustrates how religious prejudice is being ingrained from a young age, normalising hostility toward Hindus and their faith. This indoctrination not only sustains a cycle of bigotry and radicalisation but also demonstrates how disrespect for the Hindu religion is actively cultivated and expressed. Therefore, this case represents more than an assault on an individual but an assault on the Hindu faith, culture, and dignity. It highlights how anti-Hindu attitudes are transmitted across generations, producing environments where even children become instruments of intolerance. Since the disrespect and contempt for the Hindu religion formed the core motive behind this incident, it has been included in the Hinduphobia Tracker. The Hinduphobia Tracker has recorded multiple incidents of a similar nature where Hindus were assaulted, threatened, or humiliated during religious occasions like Holi, Navratri, or Diwali. These recurring patterns highlight the persistence of anti-Hindu hostility at the ground level, where symbolic acts of worship become triggers for organised violence. This particular case from Sitapur demonstrates how religious identity alone can make Hindus vulnerable to physical assault, intimidation, and collective targeting, revealing the entrenched nature of religious intolerance that continues to endanger Hindu communities in various parts of India. Disclaimer: The number of perpetrators has been set to 24 as the FIR was registered against 9 named individuals and 15 unnamed Muslim individuals.