Hindu religious procession gets attacked by Muslim mob as it passes a mosque

Case ID : b507447 | Location : Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 29 March, 2023

Case ID : b507447

Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

29 March, 2023

Hindu religious procession gets attacked by Muslim mob as it passes a mosque

Attack not resulting in death

Attack against Hindu devotees

Attacked for crossing 'Muslim area'

Attack on religious procession

Case Summary

A clash broke out between Hindus and Muslims in Paldhi town of Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district after Muslims took offence to songs being played on loudspeakers while a Hindu religious procession passed a mosque. The Muslims claimed disturbance while offering namaz inside the mosque. Four persons were injured in the violence. Two first information reports have been registered on charges of rioting and assaulting government officials and 45 persons have been arrested, the police said. Jalgaon Superintendent of Police M Rajkumar confirmed that the music was shut down when the procession crossed the mosque. “However, when the music was restarted after the procession crossed the mosque, there was stone pelting at the procession," he said. Meanwhile, residents of the area claimed that the homes of Muslims were looted during the violence. The police, however, have denied the charge.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added under the prime category of- Attack not resulting in death. Under this, three prime categories 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 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. In this instance, the conflict was triggered after Islamists took offence to music being played while a Hindu religious procession was passing through a mosque. The Muslims participating in Ramadan prayers inside a mosque took offence to Hindu devotees playing music, though the police confirmed that the Hindu had stopped the music when the procession crossed the mosque and only restarted it after the procession crossed the mosque. Despite this, stones were pelted at the procession. Here, the initial trigger of the violence itself was religious in nature, since the Muslim mob attacked the Hindu devotees owing to them celebrating their religious festival with music, while the Muslims praying inside the mosque wanted them to refrain from their celebration, keeping Islamic sensibilities in mind. It is pertinent to note here that the Hindus had not demanded that the Muslim devotees stop their prayers, it was, in fact, the Muslims who had tried to impose their religious considerations on the Hindus by attempting to stop them from celebrating their festival. Due to the perpetrator's obvious contempt for the victim's faith, this case qualifies for documentation under this tracker.