Communal tension breaks out over molestation of minor Hindu girls by Muslim youths, Islamist mob with sticks and swords takes over street at night

Case ID : ca1c6ab | Location : Umreth, Gujarat, India | Date of Incident : Mon, 5 June, 2023

Case ID : ca1c6ab

Umreth, Gujarat, India

5 June, 2023

Communal tension breaks out over molestation of minor Hindu girls by Muslim youths, Islamist mob with sticks and swords takes over street at night

Attack not resulting in death

Communal clash/attack

Case Summary

A clash erupted between the Hindu and Muslim communities in Umreth taluka of Anand after two minor Hindu females were harassed by youths from the Muslim community. At night, a Muslim mob with weapons stormed the roads of Umreth and held the entire area hostage. The situation became more tense after CCTV footage of the clash between Hindu and Muslim youths surfaced. It was said that a Muslim mob gathered at the Chandramuleshwar Mahadev temple area with swords and sticks, creating an atmosphere of fear. Later, Hindu youths also rushed to the scene with sticks, further escalating the situation. The police registered a case of rioting against 15-20 people in the Muslim mob and are conducting further investigation.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

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. The violence in this instance was initiated by the Muslim mob against the Hindus after the latter objected to the harassment faced by two Hindu minors at the hands of youths belonging to the Muslim community. Later, the Muslim mob gathered at the Chandramuleshwar Mahadev temple area with swords and sticks, creating an atmosphere of fear. Armed Muslim men stormed the roads of Umreth and held the entire area hostage. Here, it is evident that the victims were exclusively Hindus. The Muslim mob, armed with weapons, specifically gathered at a Hindu temple to intimidate the Hindus who were protesting against the molestation of the two Hindu minors. The Hindus only retaliated in self-defence, as evident by the details of the case. Further, what gives credence to the fact that the incident was communal in nature is that after a minor Hindu girl was molested by a Muslim perpetrator, the Muslim mob took to the streets against those protesting the crime committed by the perpetrator. Had there been no religious animosity, the local Muslims would have not taken to the streets with swords in the Temple area to intimidate Hindus in order to protect their co-religionist who was responsible for the crime. Since intrinsic animosity towards Hindus became the motivating factor of the crime, this case has been documented as a religiously motivated hate crime in this tracker.