Hindu procession attacked while passing near Jama Masjid, stones pelted from inside the mosque

Case ID : b45f4dc | Location : Bhilwara, Rajasthan, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 13 December, 2024
Case ID : b45f4dc
location Bhilwara, Rajasthan, India
date 13 December, 2024
Hindu procession attacked while passing near Jama Masjid, stones pelted from inside the mosque
Attack not resulting in death
Attack on religious procession
Attack against Hindu devotees
Attacked for crossing 'Muslim area'

Case Summary

A Hindu religious procession in Jahazpur, Rajasthan, was attacked by Muslims while passing near Jama Masjid. The procession, held for Jaljhulani Ekadashi, was targeted with stone pelting from inside the mosque for 20-25 minutes. The attack left several devotees injured and caused a stampede, forcing the closure of the local market. In response, Hindus gathered at the site and protested, demanding action against the attackers. BJP MLA Gopichand Meena joined the protest, promising to demolish the "illegal mosque" with a bulldozer. The local municipality issued a notice to the mosque's head, requesting documents on the land's ownership, construction, and lease within 24 hours. The police detained 10 individuals in connection with the stone pelting, and investigations began. To prevent further unrest, a large police presence was deployed in Jahazpur. That night, the municipal corporation removed illegal encroachments by the Muslim community near the Jahazpur bus stand. District Collector Rajendra Singh Shekhawat confirmed the removal.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The case has been added to the tracker under the prime category- Attack not resulting in death. Under this, the first sub-category selected is- Attack on religious procession. The outward celebration and display of religious symbols in an intrinsic part of Hinduism. Religious processions on various festivals are age-old traditions and a way to manifest faith and form a part of the religious practices of Hindus. On several occasions, such religious processions come under attack by non-Hindu mobs, in a manifestation of their animosity towards Hinduism and their practices. The reasons cited for such violent attacks are many and range from crossing a non-Hindu resident-dominated area to playing loud music, crossing from an area where there is a religious structure of another faith etc. The violent attacks are triggered by the outward display of religiosity by Hindus. The attacks are mainly a manifestation of religious supremacist doctrine which believes that idolatry, essentially the Hindu faith, is one that deserves to be annihilated since the very tenets of Hinduism, its practices and traditions are considered a sin in those doctrines. Since these attacks emanate from intrinsic and doctrinal animosity towards Hindus and Hinduism, it is considered a religiously motivated hate crime under this category. The second sub-category selected here is- Attack against Hindu devotees. Hindu devotees are a few of the easiest targets of religiously motivated hate crimes because during the festival/procession/puja etc, for non-Hindus it is easy to profile their victims on the basis of religion. Hindu devotees come under attack on several occasions by individual non-Hindus or mobs of non-Hindus owing to their animosity against Hinduism, its symbols and tradition/practices. There are several instances of Hindu devotees being attacked while they worship in temples or temporary religious structures, during religious processions, doing bhajan/kirtan/puja in their own homes, in the residential society etc. These attacks are perpetrated by non-Hindus primarily because of their animosity towards Hindus and their faith. In some cases, the trigger for the violence may be non-religious, however, there are two elements that make these hate crimes. First, the Hindus who come under attack are attacked violently while indulging in religious activity. Whether they are in a place of worship or not is immaterial to the crime. When individuals are attacked while indulging in religious practices, the attack in itself is a hindrance to their freedom to practice religion and therefore constitutes a hate crime. Secondly, religious supremacist doctrines and ideologies deem religious practices of Hindus to be offensive ab initio since they are considered “sinful” by these ideologies, worthy to be annihilated by force or coercion. Driven by these religious supremacist ideologies and doctrines, the attacks against Hindu devotees stem from intrinsic animosity towards Hinduism. In some cases, the trigger for the violence may be non-religious, however, it develops into a religiously motivated crime during the course of the violence. Since these attacks stem from animosity towards Hindus and Hinduism, they are considered religiously motivated hate crimes under this category. The third sub-category under which this case has been placed is- Attacked for crossing 'Muslim area' One of the reasons that Hindus get attacked unprovoked specifically by Islamists is for crossing ‘Muslim areas’. Essentially, Muslim mobs often attack Hindus crossing or present in certain areas which have a majority Muslim population. It has often been cited as one of the reasons to blame Hindus for attacks against themselves, signalling that Hindus displaying religious symbols, taking our religious processions or crossing any area which is dominated by Muslim residents is a provocation in and of itself. These areas are mostly ghettoized areas where mobs mobilize quickly to attack Hindus for a variety of reasons like playing music during a religious procession, crossing a mosque, wearing a tilak or any other religious symbol in a Muslim-dominated area, praying at a local temple in that area etc. There have been cases where the few local Hindus of that area have been attacked on their way to the Temple for prayers as well, simply because the area is considered a Muslim-dominated area. Several times, it is entirely possible that the immediate trigger for the violence against Hindus was non-religious in nature, however, the violence became religiously motivated in nature because the area was Muslim dominated and the residents on the whole harboured animosity towards Hindus, evidenced from the actions of the mob, the slogans, and the nature of the attack. Such crimes are motivated by the religious identity of the victims and are therefore classified as hate crimes under this category. This attack on the Hindu religious procession had multiple threads of religious animosity leading to the violence against Hindus. First, the Muslim mob pelted stones at the devotees peacefully carrying out their own procession. The attack was unprovoked in nature and the Hindu devotees had done nothing which could be branded as provocation leading to the violence by the Muslim mob. The unprovoked attack was driven by intrinsic and doctrinal religious animosity which also stemmed from the fact that the Hindu procession was crossing an area which had a Muslim-majority population. In areas with a majority Muslim population, Hindus often face hostility since the tenets of Islam harbour antagonism towards the Hindu faith and the adherents of Hinduism. Such religious and doctrinal animosity manifests in violence against Hindu devotees when religious processions pass areas with a Muslim majority. Since the violence was a product of religious animosity, this case is being categorised as a religiously motivated hate crime. Disclaimer: Here, it is mentioned that a mob of Muslims attacked the Hindu devotees. Since the exact number of individuals who participated in the stone pelting is not mentioned and the police detained 10 people in connection with the incident, we have conservatively added 10 as the perpetrator count in the database.

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Case Status


Arrested

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Perpetrators Details

Perpetrators


Muslim Extremists

Perpetrators Range


From 10 to 100

Perpetrators Gender


unknown

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