Stone pelting on the ‘Aastha Special’ train from Surat to Ayodhya
Nandurbar, Maharashtra, India 
10 February, 2024
Case Summary
On Sunday, February 11th, the 'Aastha Special' train, carrying 1,344 Hindu devotees bound for Ayodhya from Surat, commenced its journey to commemorate the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha. However, as the train approached Nandurbar Station in Maharashtra, it was targeted in a stone-pelting incident. The Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) initiated an inquiry into the matter. Despite some stones entering the compartments, no significant delays occurred, and the train continued its journey after a brief halt at Nandurbar Station.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
Hindu devotees are a few of the easiest targets of religiously motivated hate crimes because during the festival/procession/puja etc, for non-Hindus it is easy to profile their victims on the basis of religion. Hindu devotees come under attack on several occasions by individual non-Hindus or mobs of non-Hindus owing to their animosity against Hinduism, its symbols and tradition/practices. There are several instances of Hindu devotees being attacked while they worship in temples or temporary religious structures, during religious processions, doing bhajan/kirtan/puja in their own homes, in the residential society etc. These attacks are perpetrated by non-Hindus primarily because of their animosity towards Hindus and their faith. In some cases, the trigger for the violence may be non-religious, however, there are two elements that make these hate crimes. First, the Hindus who come under attack are attacked violently while indulging in religious activity. Whether they are in a place of worship or not is immaterial to the crime. When individuals are attacked while indulging in religious practices, the attack in itself is a hindrance to their freedom to practice religion and therefore constitutes a hate crime. Secondly, religious supremacist doctrines and ideologies deem religious practices of Hindus to be offensive ab initio since they are considered “sinful” by these ideologies, worthy to be annihilated by force or coercion. Driven by these religious supremacist ideologies and doctrines, the attacks against Hindu devotees stem from intrinsic animosity towards Aastha Special Train is a special train service operated by Indian Railways, designed to facilitate religious tourism and pilgrimage for Hindu devotees. There are strong suspicions that the attack on this special train was an attempt to target the Hindu devotees travelling in it specifically. It was launched to harm individuals based on their religious identity. However, in the absence of the statements from the devotees and updates on the investigation itself, it is difficult to determine of the motive of the attack was indeed communal in nature and specifically designed to attack Hindu devotees. For that reason, this case is being added to the undecided database. If more details emerge, it would be added to the hate crime database.
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Unknown
Perpetrators Range
N/A
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
