Case Summary

In the Jaale police station area of Darbhanga, Bihar, multiple Hindus were assaulted, after being asked about their religion, by individuals from the Muslim community. The incident occurred near Karbala Pokhar, following a collision between two motorcycles. What initially seemed like a minor road rage quickly escalated into a violent confrontation. Individuals passing by asked the victims for their names and religious identity, and upon learning that they were Hindu, the attackers began to beat them with sticks and later used sharp-edged weapons. Around a dozen Hindus, including rural youths and middle-aged men, sustained injuries in the attack, with several suffering serious wounds, including head injuries. The injured were promptly taken to the primary health centre for medical treatment. Hinduphobia Tracker spoke to the uncle of one of the victims, who narrated what had transpired on the day of the incident. He said that a bike belonging to a youth from the Muslim community collided with that of a Hindu youth. After that, a scuffle ensued. Elders from both communities intervened, and the fight was resolved. However, later, Muslim youths came out with sticks and lathis, asked the name of individuals and attacked when the victim identified themselves as Hindu. Hinduphobia accessed the FIR, pictures and a video wherein an elderly victim is heard saying, "Hum ghar jaa rahe the toh dekhe jagda ho raha hai. Hum rokne gaye toh mere upar lathi, baans chalaye." (We were on our way home when we saw a fight happening. When we tried to stop it, they attacked me with sticks and bamboo poles). When asked what they said while launching the assault, the victim continued saying, "Cheen raha tha, bol raha tha Yadav hai maaro. Hindu samajh ke hi an humko maara." (They were snatching things and saying, ‘He’s a Yadav, hit him.’ They attacked us only because they saw us as Hindus). Following the incident, a formal complaint was filed by one of the victims, Manoj Kumar Yadav, resulting in an FIR being registered against 21 individuals from the Muslim community. As of the date of the writing of this report, four of the accused were arrested by the police, while the investigation was still ongoing.

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Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of: Attack not resulting in death. 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 sub-category selected here is- Communal clash/attack. Communal clash is a form of collective violence that involves clashes between groups belonging to different religious identities. For a communal clash between Hindus and non-Hindus to qualify as a religiously motivated hate crime, the trigger of the violence itself would have to be anti-Hindu in essence. For example, if there is a Hindu religious procession that comes under attack from a non-Hindu mob and after the initial attack, Hindus retaliate in self-defence, leading to a communal clash between the two religious communities. While at a later stage, both communities are involved in the clash/violence, the initial trigger of the violence was by the non-Hindu mob against the Hindus and therefore, it could safely be termed as an anti-Hindu violence. Further, the trigger would also have to be religiously motivated. In the cited example, the attack by the non-Hindu mob was against religious processions and therefore, can be concluded to be religiously motivated. In some cases, the trigger may be non-religious, however, it develops into religious violence against Hindus at a later stage. In such cases too, the foundational animosity towards Hindus becomes the motivating factor of the crime and therefore, it would be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime against Hindus under this category. This case has been documented in the Hinduphobia Tracker due to the unmistakably communal and religiously motivated nature of the assault. What began as a minor road accident rapidly devolved into a targeted and premeditated act of violence against Hindus. Eyewitness accounts and the victims’ testimonies clearly establish that the attackers—identified as members of the Muslim community—explicitly asked for the names and religious identity of the individuals involved. Upon confirming that they were Hindu, the attackers unleashed a brutal assault using sticks, bamboo poles, and sharp weapons. The sequence of events reveals a deliberate shift from a routine altercation to a hate-driven communal attack. The attackers’ specific focus on the victims’ religion, combined with their verbal cues—such as “He is a Yadav, hit him” and “They beat us because we were Hindus”—points to a clear and conscious targeting of individuals on the basis of their Hindu identity. This constitutes a textbook case of a religiously motivated hate crime, where the violence is not incidental but rooted in the religious identity of the victims. The fact that multiple Hindus were selectively assaulted underscores the discriminatory and sectarian intent behind the attack. Such actions go beyond individual criminality—they aim to instil fear, suppress identity, and reinforce communal divides. It reflects a broader pattern of anti-Hindu sentiment and communal animosity, in which minor disputes are weaponised as pretexts to unleash sectarian violence. Therefore, this case warrants inclusion in the Hinduphobia Tracker.