Dalit Hindu man brutally attacked by group of Muslim men over minor argument

Case ID : c72ab36 | Location : Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sun, 1 June, 2025

Case ID : c72ab36

Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

1 June, 2025

Dalit Hindu man brutally attacked by group of Muslim men over minor argument

Attack not resulting in death

Communal clash/attack

Case Summary

In Saraiya, within the Jaitpura police station area of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, a Dalit Hindu man named Vishal Sonkar was brutally attacked by a group of 5–6 Muslim youths following a dispute over road space while driving. Reports suggest that Vishal Sonkar rode on his scooter to the Saraiya market. While he was there, a Muslim pickup driver behind him honked and asked for passage. When space was not given, the Muslim youths in the pickup began verbally abusing Vishal and called other people from the locality. Vishal was then brutally assaulted with sticks and rods by the group, resulting in a serious head injury. He was subsequently taken to the divisional hospital for treatment. The police were informed of the incident, and, following a complaint from the victim, Jaitpura police registered a case of attempted murder against the accused. Station in-charge Zafar Mehndi stated that two individuals had been questioned and that the remaining attackers would be apprehended soon. The Hinduphobia Tracker contacted the police regarding this case, who said that two out of the six accused had been arrested and that efforts were ongoing to locate other attackers. The police assured that the remaining attackers would also be arrested.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Attack not resulting in death. The subcategory selected 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 an 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 involves the brutal assault of a Dalit Hindu man, Vishal Sonkar, by a group of Muslim youths in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. While the immediate trigger for the attack was a dispute over road space, the sheer disproportionate violence inflicted, calling reinforcements and using rods and sticks to beat the victim, raises serious concerns about communal bias influencing the attackers’ actions. There is a documented pattern in India where ordinary altercations involving Hindus and Muslims escalate into targeted violence against Hindus. In many such instances, these seemingly "routine" disputes turn violent only when one party belongs to a group viewed with hostility, suggesting that the altercation becomes an excuse to inflict violence rooted in deeper communal hatred. This disproportionate reaction is often rooted in a mindset of Islamic supremacy, wherein Muslim extremists view Hindus as socially and religiously inferior. This supremacist attitude fosters disdain and aggression, especially when a Hindu does not submit or “yield” in a dispute. The belief that Hindus lack equal standing leads to violent enforcement of dominance, often under the pretext of minor disagreements. Given the communal alignment of the Muslim attackers, the nature and intensity of the violence, and the broader social-religious context, this incident has been added to the hate crime database.