Mass exodus of Hindu families due to sustained harassment by local Muslim community in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh

Case ID : aa4b2ee | Location : Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Mon, 19 May, 2025

Case ID : aa4b2ee

Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, India

19 May, 2025

Mass exodus of Hindu families due to sustained harassment by local Muslim community in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Attacked to induce migration from non-Hindu dominated area

Attack on Hindu religious representations

Defiling religious customs

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Family claims grooming

Case Summary

In the Shanichari and Shukrawari localities of Sagar city, Madhya Pradesh, Hindu families have steadily migrated over the past decade. The reason for the mass exodus of Hindus is because of the sustained harassment by the local Muslim community. This news was exclusively reported by Dainik Bhaskar. The data indicates that the Hindu population in these areas has declined by 4.88% over the last ten years. At least 228 individuals from 63 Hindu families have relocated, with 41 families selling their homes in the last five years. Also, numerous houses continue to display “for sale” signs, indicating that the exodus is still ongoing. When their team visited the Shukrawari-Shanichari area, they found multiple 'For Sale' posters on houses in different lanes of the area. They interviewed several Hindu families compelled to vacate their ancestral residences due to the continued harassment they face at the hands of the Muslims in the area. Many Hindu residents shared personal accounts of their distress. Umashankar Sharma, a victim, shared his ordeal with the Dainik Bhaskar team. His 1,200 sq ft residence was 150 years old and had belonged to his family for generations. He recounted how members of the Muslim community gathered around the house and began to intimidate him. At the time, only women were present in the home. As a result, he felt pressured to sell the property, valued at ₹18 lakh, for merely ₹5.30 lakh. Rajpal Singh owned a 625 sq ft house in the area, which remained unsold for two years due to the deteriorating social climate. He narrated how Muslims in the locality regularly discarded pieces of meat and eggshells near his house—acts considered deeply offensive and disturbing to Hindus. Unable to bear the constant hostility and with no buyers willing to pay fair market value, he was ultimately compelled to sell his home at a significantly reduced price. His experience reflects the broader issue of religiously motivated coercion being faced by Hindu residents. A Hindu woman, a victim, shared her ordeal. She is widowed, has two daughters, and is a working woman. Five to six months ago, she had an altercation with a group of Muslims. She feared for the safety of her daughters. Hence, she sold her property appraised at Rs 22 lakh for a mere Rs 14 lakh. A Hindu man shared with the Dainik Bhaskar team that his daughter was trapped in a relationship with a Muslim youth from the area. Under pressure, he agreed to the marriage, but the daughter later suffered abuse from her husband. Distressed by the events and growing concern for his family’s safety, the man decided to sell their ancestral home. He confirmed selling the property to another Hindu at a value lower than its actual worth, compelled by the deteriorating environment. Ajay Dubey, district president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), raised the issue with local authorities, urging them to address the situation and take preventive measures to stop further migration. Member of the National Human Rights Commission and former chairman of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Priyank Kanoongo, also raised concerns over the harassment faced by the Hindus, leading them to sell their properties and relocate.

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 to induce migration from non-Hindu dominated area. There have been cases where the Hindus living in an area, often with a majority dwelling belonging to non-Hindus or those harbouring animosity towards the Hindu faith, the Hindu residents experience threats and violence. The violence is employed with the aim of making the Hindus leave the area and relocate, so the area could be turned into an exclusive ghetto for adherents of the non-Hindu faith or those who harbor animosity towards the Hindu faith. In several cases, the aim of exodus is explicit. However, in several cases, the demand for exodus of Hindu residents is not explicit, however, violence by non-Hindu residents leaves the Hindu residents no option but to leave the area, thereby, turning the area into an exclusive ghetto of non-Hindu residents. In such cases, there are instances violence against the Hindu residents explicitly. For example, in the Hauz Qazi case of 2019, the Muslim residents claimed that mob violence against the Hindu residents had been triggered by a parking dispute. However, the violence did turn religious with a temple being desecrated and was directed specifically against the Hindu residents. The Hindu residents of the area were clear that the violence was religiously motivated and one of the motives was to affect an exodus of the Hindu residents. In such cases, even though the perpetrators have not explicitly expressed the aim of affecting exodus, the given circumstances and violence and precedent point to the intention of exodus and therefore would be categorized under this sub-category. Such crimes are religiously motivated and therefore are hate crimes. The other sub-category selected here is: - Attack 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 - Attack on Hindu religious representations. The sub-category selected is - Defiling religious customs. Sanatan Dharma is not a religion of one book, which is to say that while it has religious scriptures that form the central tenets of the faith, there are several traditions followed through thousands of years, mostly passed from generation to generation orally. There are several such customs and traditions that are followed by various Hindus and Hindu sects. Defiling of these traditions and customs is a breach of an individual or group’s religious practices. Such practices can range from dietary restrictions like not eating non-vegetarian food for a certain period of the year, not eating non-vegetarian food at all, not eating beef since the cow is considered holy in Hinduism, the sanctity of religious customs followed in the house (like many ISCKON devotees), etc. Any malicious action leading to the breach of such traditions or defilement of these traditions owing to animosity towards the faith or for the sake of activism stems not only from the lack of faith in the religion itself but also from disregard for the faith of the devotees who follow the customs/traditions and implicit bias against the faith, the tradition itself. Since these specific traditions are central to the faith of the devotees of that specific sect of Hindus, any non-compliance with these traditional rules would be considered a religiously motivated hate crime. The other primary category selected is - Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The sub-category selected is - Brainwashed and/or groomed, and within it, the tertiary category selected is - Family claims grooming. In our database, we have not added incidents where women have converted to another religion of their free will and no allegations of forced/involuntary conversion have been made. However, there are certain cases of conversion where the consent itself is a result of the brainwashing or grooming of a minor by the non-Hindu perpetrator trying to victimise a woman for her Hindu religious identity. The phenomenon of grooming points to non-Hindu perpetrators identifying their Hindu victims’ vulnerabilities and exploiting them over months and sometimes years, to extract the supposed ‘consent’ in order to convert their religion. In most cases of grooming, the victims are minors or the grooming started when the victim was a minor. In other cases of grooming, the non-Hindu perpetrator brainwashes and grooms a minor victim to extract their trust and then proceeds to rape them repeatedly with the intent of converting them to their faith. It is pertinent to understand here that when the victim is a minor, the ‘consent’ to convert or enter into a romantic relationship with an adult itself is redundant – addressed by POCSO. While every case of conversion of a minor and incidents of establishing a physical relationship with a minor by an adult is a crime, for the purpose of this database, a case would be considered a hate crime only if there is a distinct religious angle to the grooming. For example, in the UK, if a Hindu minor is targeted by Pakistani grooming gangs, it would be considered a hate crime because the victims are specifically targeted owing to their non-Muslim religious identity with the perpetrators being Muslim. In other cases, if a Hindu minor is brainwashed into entering a physical relationship with the non-Hindu adult perpetrator and the family alleges grooming/brainwashing of the minor to convert her religion, it would form a part of this database. If the victim is a Hindu adult, the case would form a part of this database only if the victim herself says that she was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. However, if the victim is deceased (murdered or otherwise), the case would form a part of this database if her family/friends provided testimony that the victim was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. Since these crimes have a distinct religious angle where the victim is being targeted owing to her Hindu religious identity, these cases are considered a hate crime. In Madhya Pradesh's Sagar district, various Hindu families are being forced to migrate and face relentless harassment and threats from local Muslim youths. This sustained intimidation, leading to numerous Hindu families abandoning their homes, highlights a clear pattern of targeting individuals based on their religious identity. These actions reveal an effort to gradually alter the area's demographic composition by turning it into a Muslim-majority or exclusively Muslim zone. Consider the case of Umashankar Sharma. In this case, Umashankar Sharma, a Hindu, was compelled to sell his ancestral home at a fraction of its value due to targeted intimidation. The perpetrators acted in a situation where only women were present, amplifying the sense of fear and vulnerability. The strategic timing and manner of the intimidation suggest an intent not just to harass but to displace—to create conditions under which a Hindu family would feel unsafe and ultimately be compelled to vacate their long-held property. This pattern of coercive relocation is emblematic of attempts to transform a demographically mixed neighbourhood into an exclusive communal enclave. Consider the case of Rajpal Singh. His experience provides a direct and deeply personal account of the religiously motivated harassment that underpins the broader Hindu exodus from the area. Rajpal described repeated incidents of local Muslims purposely discarding meat and eggshells outside his home, acts not only culturally offensive but explicitly intended to defile his religious customs and target his Hindu identity. Such actions are a direct affront to Hindu beliefs, which regard the presence of meat and non-vegetarian waste near the home as deeply impure and sacrilegious. Consider the case of a widowed Hindu woman. In this incident, a Hindu woman living in the Shanichari locality of Sagar city was compelled to sell her home far below its market value due to fear for the safety of her daughters. A working mother of two daughters, she faced an altercation with a group of Muslims several months ago. The confrontation and the growing sense of insecurity regarding her daughters' safety pushed her to take the difficult step of selling her property, worth ₹22 lakh, for just ₹14 lakh. Consider the case of grooming. In this case, the woman and her family were targeted because they were Hindu. The family said that the woman was groomed by a Muslim man. Over time, this led to a forced marriage and, eventually, abuse. The harm she faced did not end there. Her suffering had a ripple effect, making life increasingly difficult for her family. Already shaken by what their daughter went through, the family felt vulnerable and unsafe. This fear, coupled with the broader pattern of Hindu families being pressured to leave the area, compelled them to sell their home at a lower price. Hence, this case is classified as a hate crime. These are not isolated incidents but part of a larger, decade-long trend, with statistical evidence pointing to the departure of at least 228 individuals from 63 Hindu families and numerous homes still up for sale, indicating ongoing pressure. The religious identity of the victims plays a central role in this case. Victims were not targeted over a property dispute, financial quarrel, or political rivalry, but because they were Hindus living in an area where their community is now under pressure. Hence, this case is added to the hate crime database. Disclaimer: The news report states that 228 Hindus from 63 Hindu families have left the area. While the exodus is ongoing and the numbers may change in the future, for the purpose of documentation, the number of victims has been recorded as 228. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that the report has not provided an exact date for the beginning of the mass exodus of Hindus. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the incident was reported in the media.