Muslim mob pelt stones at Hindu devotees participating in Kartik Ekadashi procession
Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India 
12 November, 2024
Case Summary
In the Jalgaon district in Maharashtra, members of the Muslim community pelted stones at a religious procession Hindu devotees were participating in on the occasion of the Hindu festival of Kartik Ekadashi. The procession was passing peacefully when it came under attack. The police said that the violence was triggered by a minor verbal spat that erupted between the members of the Muslim community and the Hindu devotees. This minor dispute turned into a major brawl, with the Muslims launching a vicious attack on the Hindus participating in the procession. A viral video of the incident shows miscreants pelting stones while several men and women are seen shouting and attempting to protect themselves from the assault.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the prime category of 'Attack not resulting in death'. Under this, there are two sub-categories that have been selected. The first 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 relevant 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. In this instance, the Islamist mob launched a vicious attack on a religious procession taken out by Hindu devotees on the occasion of Kartik Ekadashi, an auspicious 152-year-old tradition in Jalgaon, Maharashtra. As per reports, the trigger of the attack was a petty argument, however, the incident soon morphed into a religiously motivated crime when the Muslim youths started pelting stones at the religious procession being taken out by Hindu devotees. It was clearly the animosity towards Hindus and their faith that united so many Muslims together to launch such a vicious attack on the devotees, that too over a petty argument. Given that the fundamental motivation behind these actions is contempt for the Hindu religion, this instance has been added to the tracker under the following category.
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
