Islamists pelt stones at Hindu houses in Shivamogga - display Auragzeb posters and Tipu Sultan cut-out killing Hindus
Shimoga, Karnataka, India 
30 September, 2023
Case Summary
On 1 October, Karnataka’s Shivamogga was clouded with communal tension after Islamists pelted stones during the Eid-e-Milad an-Nabi procession. At least four people got injured. Section 144 of CrPC was imposed in the Ragigugga area as a precautionary measure where the incident took place. As per reports, there was a cutout of Tipu Sultan in the procession where he was shown killing two “saffron-coloured” people. It was understandable that it depicted Tipu killing Hindu warriors. In one of the photographs, there was a large sword with text written in Urdu on it. Another photograph showed an image of Mughal ruler Aurangzeb, who killed thousands of Hindus outside a Masjid. The other two photographs showed large cutouts of Tipu and Islamic flags waving in the city. Activists linked to Hindu organisations raised objections to the posters and cutout, and the police got involved. Aaj Tak report noted that Hindus took to the streets to protest against the stone pelting. The police stopped the procession to control the situation. Irked by the police action, Islamists tried to break down police barricades and pelted stones. The police used the lathi charge to disperse the crowd.
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 other category that this case is being added to is 'hate speech' under the sub-category 'denial, mocking or glorification of genocide/large scale persecution'. Denial or mocking of genocide/large-scale persecution/ethnic cleansing refers to the act of denying or minimizing the fact of the ethnic cleansing and/or genocide and/or religious persecution of Hindus. This also includes glorification of acts of genocide/large-scale persecution and/or glorification of the perpetrators of large scale persecution/genocide of Hindus. This often involves denying the scale, mechanisms, religious intent, or even the occurrence of the ethnic cleansing and/or genocide and/or religious persecution of Hindus. The glorification of the act of persecution and the perpetrator of such violence also amounts to hate speech since it is aimed at calls for the repeat of such religiously motivated persecution. Hate speech of this kind involves the dissemination of falsehoods that deny or distort established historical facts or mock the suffering of Hindus by saying that they deserved the persecution, motivated by Hinduphobia. Denying such atrocities is not only about the denial of facts or rewriting/revising history, but it also delegitimises the religiously motivated persecution of Hindus, the religious hate/motivation/animosity that led to the persecution, and dehumanises Hindus as a religious group. Such denial of ethnic cleansing and/or genocide and/or religious persecution of Hindus not only denies the suffering but also paves the way for future/present atrocities and hate speech, inciting prejudice and violence against Hindus. It also provides a justification for violence by delinking religious animosity from religiously motivated crimes committed against Hindus. Since such denial and/or mocking of genocide/ethnic cleansing/atrocities motivated by religious animosity leads to present and future ramifications of creating more hate speech, violence, dehumanisation and delegitimisation, it would be considered hate speech under this category. In this instance, a communal clash broke out between people of the Muslim and the Hindu community in Karnataka Shivamogga district. Though members of both communities came face to face, it is important to note here that the initial trigger of the violence was the provocation from the Muslim side. Eid-e-Milad an-Nabi is an Islamic festival that commemorates the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. On this occasion, the Muslims took out a procession wherein they displayed posters and cutouts showing Mughal tyrants like Aurangzeb and Tipu Sultan brutally murdering Hindus. These posters had nothing to do with the event, and other than offending and hurting Hindus' religious feelings, there is no other justification for carrying such posters on the occasion of Eid. Nevertheless, when the Hindu side objected to these posters, the Muslim mob launched an unbridled attack on the Hindus and the police personnel. Islamists tried to break down police barricades and pelted stones. At this stage, the Hindus took to the streets to protest against the stone pelting by the Islamists. The trigger for the clash was the objectionable posters carried by the Muslim youths. It is important to note that there was no provocation from the Hindu side. Given that the fundamental motivation behind these actions is contempt for Hindus and their religion, this instance has been added to the tracker under the categories.
Victim Details
Total Victim
4
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 0
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 4
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 4
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 4
Case Status
Perpetrators not caught
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
