Hindu father-son duo attacked for their religious identity; Muslim mob asks names, reminds them of Pahalgam Hindu massacre before assaulting

Case ID : aa4afdc | Location : Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 24 April, 2025

Case ID : aa4afdc

Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India

24 April, 2025

Hindu father-son duo attacked for their religious identity; Muslim mob asks names, reminds them of Pahalgam Hindu massacre before assaulting

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Hate speech against Hindus

Violent threats

Case Summary

In the Khatauli police station jurisdiction of Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu youth named Akshay Rajput, who operates a restaurant, was brutally assaulted by a group of Muslims. Prior to the attack, the assailants asked Akshay and his father their names and invoked the Hindu tourist massacre in Pahalgam on April 22, 2025, one of the most brutal religiously motivated attacks launched by Pakistan-backed Islamic terrorists in recent times. In a video of the incident that went viral on social media, most of the attackers are seen in Islamic attire. According to the complaint lodged by Akshay on 26th April, he was travelling with his father by car at approximately 10:30 PM when a group of individuals — identified as Rehan, Shahbaz, Shahid, Shoaib, along with four to five unidentified persons — intercepted their vehicle, citing the reason of excessive honking. The attackers subjected Akshay and his father to verbal abuse before vandalising their car. The Muslim assailants, armed with sticks, iron rods, and sharp weapons, attempted to drag Akshay and his father out of the vehicle. Amidst the confrontation, they issued violent threats. Akshay further stated in his complaint that the attackers repeatedly questioned whether he remembered the barbaric attack on Hindus in Pahalgam. When a Hindu named Vivek intervened to save Akshay, the mob threatened to kill him as well, shouting, "kill them, kill them" during the attack. Both Akshay and his father sustained injuries but managed to escape the scene. Subsequently, Akshay filed a police complaint, following which a case was registered under the relevant legal provisions. At the time of writing, two individuals were taken into custody, and efforts are ongoing to apprehend the remaining accused.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under two primary categories. The first primary category selected here is - 'Attack not resulting in death', and within it the 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 primary category selected here is - 'Hate speech against Hindus', and the sub-category selected 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 is a clear example of a religiously motivated hate crime, highlighted by the fact that the Muslim attackers deliberately referenced the Hindu massacre in Pahalgam while targeting the Hindu father-son duo. The Pahalgam incident refers to a terrorist attack in the Pahalgam region of Jammu and Kashmir, where Islamic terrorists identified individuals based on their religious identity and selectively killed Hindus. In the present case, the attackers asking Akshay Rajput whether he remembered "Pahalgam" was a deliberate invocation of that act of targeted violence. This was not just a casual reference but a direct and violent threat, implying that Akshay could face a similar fate solely because of his Hindu identity. Although the immediate trigger for the incident might just be a minor road rage altercation. But when the attackers gathered a group of about nine individuals, armed with weapons, and issued death threats while making explicit reference to Akshay’s religious identity, it shows clear premeditation and religious animosity of Muslims towards Hindus. The fact that religiously charged threats were issued, and that violence was directed specifically against a Hindu individual while invoking the Pahalgam incident, classifies this event as a case of religiously motivated hate crime.