Hindu wedding procession attacked for playing music near mosque
Bokaro, Jharkhand, India 
8 July, 2023
Case Summary
In Bokaro, Jharkhand, a controversy erupted on July 9, 2023, when a Hindu family played music during a wedding procession near a mosque. The incident occurred in Santhaldih village under the Pindrajora police station area during Kamal Mahato's family wedding ceremony. As women from the wedding party were passing by the mosque, Muslim community members demanded the DJ be stopped for the Azaan (call to prayer) and told them to take an alternate route. This led to a face-off and accusations of scuffling and pushing Hindu women by Muslim youths. In response, angry villagers blocked the main road with bricks. Police and administrative officials intervened, bringing both parties together for discussions. Additional police forces were deployed to maintain peace. DSP Poonam Minj confirmed the agreement and stated that the situation in the village had returned to normal.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The sub-category under 'Attack not resulting in death' relevant in this case is- Attack 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. Here Islamists disrupted a Hindu wedding procession while it was crossing an area, which the Muslims declared to be theirs as people of their religious community predominantly occupy it. Notably, there was no provocation from the Hindu side. The trigger was the music being played by the Hindu devotees as the procession passed through the mosque. 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 following category.
Case Status
Complaint not filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 10 to 100
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
