Hindu youths attacked by Muslims for being seen with Muslim girl during Urus celebrations in Bangarpet, Karnataka

Case ID : d3273a7 | Location : Bangarapet, Karnataka, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 21 January, 2026

Case ID : d3273a7

Bangarapet, Karnataka, India

21 January, 2026

Hindu youths attacked by Muslims for being seen with Muslim girl during Urus celebrations in Bangarpet, Karnataka

Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women

Attacked/killed for being associated or suspicion of being associated with Muslim woman

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Bangarpet, Karnataka, Hindu youths were attacked by Muslim men for being seen in public with a Muslim girl named Chandini. The incident took place during the Urus celebrations, an Islamic festival, when the victims had joined Chandini to observe the event. According to media reports, in this case, the police arrested ten Muslim perpetrators, including Zahid, Abid Ahmed, and Sheikh Sakeeb. The complaint was filed by Chandini, a Muslim girl, who stated that the Muslim accused had attacked her and her Hindu friends, Rahul, Purushottam, Lavanya and Sanjay, who were with her and her brother Rafi. The attack occurred apparently only because the Muslim girl Chandini was spotted with her Hindu male friends. After receiving information about the incident, Kolar Gold Fields Superintendent of Police Shivanshu Rajput visited the spot and inspected it. Further investigation was underway, and a case was registered at the Bangarpet police station in this regard.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Attacked/killed for being associated or suspicion of being associated with Muslim woman. There have been several cases documented of Hindu men/boys being attacked specifically by Muslim groups/mobs for merely being associated or suspicion of being associated or being seen with a Muslim woman in public. In most of such cases, the Hindu man is not in a relationship with the Muslim woman, however, the mob proceeds to threaten and/or assault the Hindu man for merely being associated with the Muslim woman in any capacity. The rise of such crimes stems from a particularly sinister campaign run by several Muslim ideologues and activists. The campaign claims that Hindu men are attempting to ‘lure’ Muslim women into relationships to ensure that Muslim women leave their faith and follow Hinduism. The propaganda has been spearheaded with the help of WhatsApp groups and the extensive use of social media, sans evidence of the same. In many cases, pamphlets were fabricated to lend credence to this campaign. The root of this campaign lies in the fact that several cases of sectarian crimes against Hindu women in relationships with Muslim men have been documented. In such cases, Hindu women have often been forced/pressured to convert to Islam, assaulted, threatened and even murdered owing specifically to their religious identity and their refusal to give up that religious identity to adopt Islam. To delegitimize the suffering of Hindu women when such sectarian crimes are committed against them, the theory of ‘Bhagwa Love Trap’ was floated by sections of the Muslim community. As this theory gained traction, Muslim mobs started targeting Hindu men who were seen with Muslim women. In several such cases, the Hindu man was assaulted merely for offering to drop a Muslim woman in his vehicle or being friends. The differentiating factor between such cases and legitimate cases of Hindu women being targeted while in a relationship with Muslim men is that there is no sectarian violence, and force/pressure to convert. The nature of sectarian violence against Hindu women is not about two adults in a consensual relationship, working together, studying together, or even marrying each other where religious considerations are declared. In this category of crimes, it is pertinent to remember that in none of the cases, there is an element of the Hindu man masking his identity or forced religious conversion. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. Another primary category selected in this case is- Attack not resulting in death. The subcategory selected is- Attacked for Hindu identity. In several cases, Hindus are attacked merely for their Hindu identity without any perceived provocation. A classic example of this category of religiously motivated hate crime is a murder in 2016. 7 ISIS terrorists were convicted for shooting a school principal in Kanpur because they got ‘triggered’ seeing the Kalava on his wrist and tilak that he had put. In this, the Hindu victim had offered no provocation except for his Hindu religious identity. The motivation for the murder was purely religious, driven by religious supremacy. Such cases where Hindus are targeted merely for their religious identity would be documented as a hate crime under this category. This case constitutes a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime against Hindus, where Hindu youths faced physical assault simply because they were seen with a Muslim girl named Chandini. The incident arose not from any inappropriate behaviour or public misconduct but solely from the religious identities of those involved. All the individuals present in this case were adults free to make their own decisions. Thus, Chandini chose to join the Hindu youths of her own free will during the Urus celebrations. The Muslim aggressors objected to the fact that a Muslim girl was in the company of Hindu youths. This reaction stemmed not from concern for the girl’s safety or consent but from ingrained religious bias and a drive to enforce sectarian boundaries through intimidation. The deliberate attack sends a broader message of religious control within public spaces. This was not an isolated outburst but a targeted act driven by deep hostility toward the Hindu identity of the victims. The assault proved deliberate, unprovoked, and intended to publicly enforce a discriminatory belief system that denies Hindu men the right to freely associate with Muslim women. The justification for such actions draws from the conspiracy theory of ‘Bhagwa Love Trap’, explicitly rooted in anti-Hindu sentiment. This false narrative vilifies Hindu men as predators targeting Muslim women, despite lacking any basis in reality. It weaponises violence against Hindus, as seen here, where a group of ten Muslim men, including Zahid, Abid Ahmed, and Sheikh Sakeeb, assaulted the Hindu youths for their faith identity. Additionally, the Hindu girl Lavanya also suffered an attack, making it clear she was targeted for her Hindu identity. In this incident, when the Hindu boys faced assault for being seen with the Muslim girl, the attack on Lavanya resulted from the same animosity the perpetrators held towards her Hindu identity. This confirms that this attack was a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime. Given that this case involves attacks on Hindus for their religious identity, it has been rightfully added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: In this case, although the main focus centred on the three named Hindu male youths: Rahul, Purushottam, and Sanjay, who were attacked by Muslim perpetrators for being seen with the Muslim girl Chandini, the Hindu girl Lavanya suffered assault as well. Henceforth, we are recording the victim count as four (4), referring to all four Hindus targeted in this incident. The Hinduphobia Tracker records the date of an incident based on when the crime occurs rather than when it is reported by the media. In this case, the media reported the incident on 22 January 2026. However, the report did not specify the exact date when the crime occurred. Hence, the media report date is being selected as the indicative incident date for documentation purposes only.