Case Summary

A Hindu girl in Kolkata was threatened by a Muslim cab driver during a ride booked through the Indrive app for listening to the Hanuman Chalisa on her phone. The driver, Muhammad Irfan, reacted aggressively, threatened to kill her, and tried to divert the car to an unknown location. The girl escaped and filed a police complaint, after which the driver was arrested. The girl had booked her journey using the ‘Indrive’ app. The cab driver's name was Muhammad Irfan. According to the victim, she was casually scrolling through social media when a reel featuring the Hanuman Chalisa began playing. The Muslim cab driver reacted with sudden fury, demanding that she stop the audio immediately. When the girl refused, the situation escalated rapidly. Irfan threatened her life and attempted to steer the vehicle towards an unknown location, which was reportedly his own neighbourhood. He warned her that she would not leave alive unless she complied. Recognising the imminent threat, the girl managed to escape and sought immediate help. She later filed a written complaint at the Shakespeare Sarani Police Station. The Kolkata Police acted and arrested the driver.

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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. The sub-category selected here 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 other primary category selected is - Hate Speech against Hindus. The sub-category selected here 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. In this case, a young Hindu woman was targeted simply for listening to the Hanuman Chalisa, a peaceful and devotional expression of her faith. The Muslim cab driver's violent reaction, including threats to kill her and an attempt to take her to an unknown location, stemmed solely from her engaging in a peaceful religious practice. Such targeted hostility demonstrates religious animosity and an intent to suppress Hindu expression in public. The hostility she faced wasn’t random but directed at her identity, her beliefs, and her right to express them freely. When threats like these are made with such violence, they’re not just about scaring one person but to send a message to an entire community: that even quiet, personal acts of devotion are no longer safe. These incidents illustrate a growing trend of intolerance toward Hindu religious practices, emphasising the difficulties devotees face in freely practising their faith. Moreover, these actions stem from a deep-seated animosity toward Hindus and their beliefs; thus, this case has been recorded and classified as a hate crime.