Dalit Hindu family subjected to casteist slurs and violence by Muslims over water dispute

Case ID : d06caae | Location : Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 5 June, 2025

Case ID : d06caae

Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India

5 June, 2025

Dalit Hindu family subjected to casteist slurs and violence by Muslims over water dispute

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim

Communal clash/attack

Hate speech against Hindus

Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith

Case Summary

In the Kadabin Jinsi Haat Maidan area of Indore, Madhya Pradesh, a Dalit Hindu family was brutally attacked by a group of Muslims over a minor water dispute. The assailants also directed caste-based slurs at the victims. As per reports, the victims were identified as Nandkishore, his wife Sunita, his son Aditya, and an elderly woman named Mooli Bai. The attackers were identified as Yusuf Muzaffar, Sairiz Muzaffar, Hussain, and Muzaffar. The incident began in the afternoon when the four accused engaged in a verbal altercation and abused the female members of the family over filling water from the borewell, while Nandkishore and Aditya were away from home. At around 10:30 PM, when Nandkishore and Aditya returned after closing their shop, they found the four Muslim men sitting outside their house. When Nandkishore confronted the accused about their abusive language towards his female family members, all four became aggressive and insulted the family with casteist slurs. The attackers then began brutally attacking Nandkishore with sticks. When Sunita, Aditya, and Mooli Bai came to his aid after hearing the commotion, they too were severely beaten. The perpetrators also threatened the family, warning them not to report the incident to the police. Following the attack, a few locals took Nandkishore to the hospital and filed a complaint at the police station. Neighbours such as Navin Bhavsar, Vicky Yadav, and Mohit PDR arrived at the scene and informed the police about the incident. The police registered a case against the four Muslim attackers under the SC-ST Act, including charges of assault, intimidation, and disturbing the peace. Following this, the police began an investigation into this case, and subsequently, all four accused absconded.

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- Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save the victim. In several cases, Hindus are attacked for opposing religiously motivated crimes being committed against a fellow Hindu or simply for voicing an opinion opposing radical elements, who either have in the past or continue to persecute Hindus. In such cases, the initial attack against the victim, against which the Hindu was trying to defend the victim, would also need to be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime. Since the initial crime itself was religiously motivated and the subsequent crime of attempting to save the victim or speaking against the radical elements ends up inviting a violent attack, it would also be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under this category. The other subcategory 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. Another primary category that is relevant in this case is- Hate Speech against Hindus. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith. Anti-Hindu slurs and the deliberate mocking of the Hindu faith owing to religious animosity involve the usage of derogatory terms, stereotypes, or offensive references to religious practices, symbols, or figures. One of the common anti-Hindu slurs used against Hindus is “cow-worshipper” and “cow piss drinker”. The intention of using this term is to demean and mock Hindus as a group and their religious beliefs since Hindus consider the cow holy. Additionally, some symbols and the slurs attached to them have a historical context that exacerbates the insult, hate, stereotyping, dehumanisation and oppression against Hindus. Cow worship has been used for centuries to denigrate Hindus, insult their faith and oppress Hindus specifically as a religious group. There has been overwhelming documentation about how cow slaughter has been used to persecute Hindus with cow meat being thrown in temples and places of worship. There has also been overwhelming documentation where cow meat (beef) has been force-fed to Hindus to either forcefully convert them to Islam or denigrate their faith. Apart from cow worship, the Swastika – which holds deep religious significance for the Hindus – has also been misinterpreted and distorted to use as a slur against Hindus. Similarly, the worship of the Shivling has been used by supremacist ideologies and religions to denigrate Hindus owing to religious animosity. Such slurs and denigration stem out of inherent animosity and hate towards Hindus and their faith, therefore, it is categorised as hate speech targeted at Hindus specifically owing to their religious identity. In this case, although the initial cause of the conflict was not religious but rather a water dispute, the subsequent disproportionate violence and caste based slurs hurled by the Muslim perpetrators upon the Hindu family showcase communal undertones. This incident was not simply a disagreement over water; the severity of the attack suggests underlying religious animosity that the perpetrators held against the Hindus. In many such cases involving violence against Hindus, the immediate trigger is often non-communal, yet the situation quickly escalates and acquires a religious dimension as it unfolds. In this case, the Hindu family was beaten with sticks. The fact that the Muslim perpetrators were armed indicates the violence was premeditated rather than spontaneous. The Hindu victim, Nandkishore, was brutally assaulted when he confronted the Muslims about their using abusive language towards the female members of his family. This indicates that the Muslims targeted him for standing in solidarity with his Hindu family. In many such instances, Hindus are attacked by Muslim assailants simply for supporting other Hindu victims. These attacks are often not just about the individual, but about sending a broader message that defending Hindu interests or resisting religious aggression will be met with violence. Furthermore, the Muslim perpetrators directed casteist slurs at the Hindu family, making it evident that their abuse was rooted in hatred based on the family's identity. Some may argue here that a caste-specific slur is aimed at her micro identity of belonging to the Dalit section of the Hindu community and not her Hindu identity itself. However, as far as Abrahamic religions are concerned, the micro identities of caste, region, and language are secondary. It is the religious identity that drives the animosity of the perpetrator against the Hindu victim. In this case, while the accused hurled caste abuses at the victims, the animosity was driven by his animosity towards Hinduism and Hindus. While the immediate trigger of the violence could be the "water dispute" as mentioned in reports, the fact that caste slurs were hurled at the victim by the perpetrator makes it a religiously motivated hate crime against the victim.