Hindu shops looted, temple vandalised, cows stolen by Muslim men over Temple construction in West Bengal's Malda
West Bengal, India 
17 May, 2025
Case Summary
In Ratua, Malda district of West Bengal, communal tensions erupted following the construction of a Hindu temple, resulting in an attack on temples and the looting and vandalism of multiple shops owned by Hindus. Members of the Muslim community were involved in the violence, which took place late at night on May 18, 2025. Senior BJP leaders, including Suvendu Adhikari and Sukanta Majumdar, condemned the attack, asserting that Hindus were deliberately targeted for building a temple and accusing the police of inaction during the violence. Adhikari shared specific instances of damage, including attacks on the homes and businesses of local Hindus such as Ashok Ghosh, Kalyan Saha, and Sekhar Saha. Vehicles were also vandalised, and livestock was also stolen from cowsheds. BJP leaders criticised the West Bengal government, calling the violence a result of growing religious extremism. The West Bengal Police, however, denied that the incident was religiously motivated. According to their statement, the violence stemmed from a dispute over e-rickshaw (Toto) parking. They claimed the clash involved both sides, and order was restored after intervention. Twenty-one individuals were arrested as part of the ongoing investigation.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under multiple categories. The first primary category selected here is: - Attack on Hindu religious representations. Within it, the sub-category selected is: - Attack on temples. In Hinduism, a temple is the abode of the Deity. The Deity in the Temple is consecrated, thereby, making it a real, breathing entity. Hindus believe that not just the Deity but the temple premises itself are sacred to Hindus since Hindus hold the faith that the entire Temple space is an amalgamation of the divine energy of the deity. Given the central significance of Temples in Hindu Dharma, any attack against a Hindu Temple or its peripheral premises is an attack on the faith itself and is born out of animosity towards the faith, of which, the Temple is a central tenet. Any manner of attack against a Temple and/or its premises would therefore be considered a religiously motivated hate crime. The second primary category selected here is: - Attack not resulting in death. Within it, 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 sub-category relevant 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 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 added to the tracker due to the clear instance of one-sided, targeted violence against the Hindu community in Malda, West Bengal. According to multiple statements made by senior BJP leaders, including Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and State BJP President Sukanta Majumdar, the violence was not a random altercation but a premeditated and communal attack aimed at suppressing Hindu religious expression. The construction of a Hindu temple became the flashpoint for the unrest, with members of the Muslim community launching a coordinated assault involving stone pelting, vandalism, and looting. The temple under construction was attacked, multiple shops owned by Hindus were ransacked, homes were damaged, vehicles destroyed, and cows and calves were looted from Hindu households. These targeted acts of violence reflect a deeper intent to intimidate and silence the Hindu community from asserting its religious identity and right to life and liberty. The communal nature of the incident is underscored by the fact that the aggression was directed solely at Hindus for exercising their religious right to construct a temple. Such acts are not merely law and order problems but are rooted in religious intolerance. While the police have downplayed the incident as a minor dispute over rickshaw parking, eyewitness accounts and statements by local political leaders point to a more serious and communal agenda. This pattern has been witnessed time and again, where any outward display of Hindu religious practice, in this case construction of a temple, is met with disproportionate violence from the Muslim community. The Muslim community found the construction of the temple provocative, which led to the whole incident. The attack on the temple, looting of shops and cattle theft take a toll both spiritually and economically on Hindu lives. Since the violence denied the Hindus their fundamental right, this case has been categorised as a Hindu hate crime. Many times, as seen in this case, the police often deny or downplay the communal angle under the pretext of maintaining law and order and preventing the situation from escalating further. However, such denials often come at the cost of truth and justice for the victims. West Bengal police, especially, has a history of downplaying violence committed by the Muslim community. Over the past several years, there has been a disturbing pattern in West Bengal where incidents of targeted violence, vandalism, and intimidation against Hindus have either been downplayed, misrepresented, or outright denied by the state police and administration. This whitewashing has become institutionalised under the leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose government stands accused of deliberately shielding Islamist elements while clamping down on Hindu rights. A glaring example of this systemic whitewashing is evident in the handling of the Murshidabad violence, as well as multiple other incidents in Basirhat, Malda, Midnapore, and Uttar Dinajpur. In the Basirhat case (March 2025), for instance, when a Kali temple was vandalised and the idol desecrated, the police quickly dismissed the communal nature of the attack and labelled the perpetrator as “mentally unstable” without any serious investigation or due process. This is a familiar pattern used to neutralise public outrage and deflect attention from religiously motivated crimes against Hindus. In the aftermath of widespread anti-Hindu violence in Murshidabad and Malda (April 2025), which included incidents of arson, looting, and idol desecration, the West Bengal Police attempted to present the violence as “minor clashes” or “local disputes” unrelated to religion. Reports indicated that despite credible accounts of Hindu homes and temples being attacked, the police either failed to act in time or took a biased stance that allowed the violence to escalate. In many cases, police statements contradicted eyewitness reports and video evidence shared on social media. The bias of the state extends beyond inaction. There are increasing instances where the state actively suppresses Hindu religious expression. Hindus have been arrested simply for chanting “Jai Shri Ram”, a phrase vilified by sections of the administration and ruling party. Permission for Hindu processions—especially during festivals like Ram Navami or Hanuman Jayanti—is routinely denied on grounds of "law and order concerns", while Muslim religious gatherings face no such hurdles. Moreover, over the years, the Mamata-led government has issued numerous prejudicial directives, like orders restricting Durga Puja immersions, citing Muharram processions. Inaction on anti-Hindu mob violence in areas like Dhulian, Islampur, and Kaliachak. Public endorsements and appeasement of radical clerics and Islamist leaders, while dismissing concerns raised by Hindu groups as “communal provocation”. The systematic suppression of Hindu voices, the denial of communal violence, and the criminalisation of Hindu identity expressions such as “Jai Shri Ram” reflect not just administrative failure but a deeper ideological hostility toward the Hindu community. While the West Bengal Police has downplayed the Malda (Ratua) incident as a minor dispute over the parking of a toto (e-rickshaw), such justifications fail to account for the escalation and the clearly targeted nature of the violence that followed. Even if, for the sake of argument, the initial provocation was non-religious in nature, the aftermath was unmistakably communal, with Hindu temples vandalised, Hindu-owned shops looted, houses attacked, and even cows stolen from Hindu cowsheds. This is not without precedent. A similar pattern was observed during the 2019 Hauz Qazi communal violence in Delhi, where the initial conflict began over a parking dispute, yet spiralled into a targeted attack against Hindus. As reported by OpIndia, a Durga temple was desecrated, and a minor Hindu boy was abducted and assaulted by a group of Muslim youth. Hindu residents were attacked, and their religious sentiments were deliberately provoked. In both cases, we see a recurring trajectory—what may begin as a neighbourhood-level dispute quickly mutates into a full-blown communal attack, often fuelled by pre-existing tensions and religious animus. Authorities, by choosing to describe such violence as "minor disputes", obscure the communal targeting that follows, thereby denying justice to the victims and emboldening perpetrators. This deliberate downplaying also deflects attention from the systematic patterns of religious hostility that deserve scrutiny and intervention. In Malda, just as in Hauz Qazi, the selective targeting of Hindu symbols, spaces, and livelihoods makes it clear that the violence was not just spontaneous, but guided by communal intent, regardless of the initial spark.
Case Status
Case sub-judice
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
