Hindu sadhu brutally attacked for chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' during a religious gathering in Purba Medinipur, West Bengal

Case ID : d327420 | Location : Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal, India | Date of Incident : Sun, 1 February, 2026

Case ID : d327420

Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal, India

1 February, 2026

Hindu sadhu brutally attacked for chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' during a religious gathering in Purba Medinipur, West Bengal

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Communal clash/attack

Hate speech against Hindus

Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith

Case Summary

In the Bhagwanpur area of Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, a Hindu sadhu named Swami Suryananda Maharaj was attacked for chanting "Jai Shree Ram" during a religious gathering by Trinamool Congress party goons. The incident occurred on 1 February 2026, when a Hindu Sammelan, a religious gathering, was organised in Bhagwanpur, where Hindu religious leaders and devotees gathered peacefully. During the event, people were chanting “Jai Shri Ram”, which drew objections from a group linked to local Trinamool Congress workers, leading to a confrontation. Swami Suryananda Maharaj, who was involved in leading the event, said, "I was talking about medical matters. Suddenly, four people came and grabbed my clothes. They said, 'Why did you say Jai Shri Ram here?' I said, 'Shri Ram is our great man. We chant the Jai Shri Ram slogan everywhere.' Still, they kept abusing me. They grabbed my clothes forcibly." During the confrontation, Swami Suryananda Maharaj was surrounded, beaten, and strangled with a rope-like noose, due to which he sustained serious injuries. He was taken to Chandipur hospital, where he remained under medical observation and was reported to be in a serious but stable condition. An eyewitness to the incident stated, "We were talking to two sadhus. Three people came there and started saying, ‘Go do your sadhugiri elsewhere!’ Then they began pulling and roughing them up. They grabbed the sadhu and started dragging him.” Panic spread in the surrounding area, prompting police from Bhagwanpur police station to intervene and deploy additional forces to prevent further unrest. One individual, identified by police as Jagannath Maiti, was arrested in connection with the assault, and investigations were initiated to identify others involved. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari visited the injured sadhu and stated that the attack took place solely because the chant “Jai Shri Ram” was raised at a peaceful Hindu Sammelan, describing the incident as a targeted act of violence against Hindu religious expression. The Trinamool Congress responded by claiming that political speeches were delivered under the guise of a religious event. As of the date of writing this report, the police investigation continued into the circumstances and participants involved in the attack.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of - Attack not resulting in death. Within it, the sub-category 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. The other sub-category selected here 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. The second primary category selected here is - Hate speech against Hindus. Within it, the sub-category 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. This case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu sadhu named Swami Suryananda Maharaj was attacked for chanting "Jai Shree Ram" during a religious gathering by TMC goons. The violence was triggered solely by the outward expression of Hindu religious identity, specifically the chanting of “Jai Shri Ram” at a Hindu Sammelan. “Jai Shri Ram” is not a political chant but a deeply sacred invocation for Hindus, symbolising devotion to Lord Ram, an embodiment of dharma, righteousness, and moral order. It translates to "Victory to Lord Ram" and holds profound significance for Hindus as a devotional chant honouring Lord Ram, the seventh avatar of Vishnu. The objection, confrontation, and subsequent assault on Swami Suryananda Maharaj arose not from any act of provocation or violence by the devotees, but from hostility towards this Hindu religious expression itself. The demand that the chant should not be raised, the abusive remarks directed at the sadhu, and the physical assault, demonstrated an attempt to restrict and suppress the outward expression of Hindu faith in a public space. This constitutes a direct attack on the right of Hindus to freely express their religious identity. The assault was not incidental or spontaneous but targeted and coercive in nature, aimed at enforcing an informal prohibition against Hindu religious expression in that locality. By questioning why “Jai Shri Ram” was being chanted and violently punishing its utterance, the attackers sought to establish dominance over public religious space and instill fear among Hindu devotees. This selective hostility reflects an environment where Hindu religious expressions are treated as illegitimate or provocative, amounting to a restriction on the outward expression of Hindu identity. Additionally, the incident also reflects a deliberate attempt at mocking faith and anti-Hindu verbal abuse. Eyewitness accounts reveal that the attackers used the term “sadhugiri” in a derogatory and dismissive manner, telling the sadhus to “go do your sadhugiri elsewhere.” In this context, the term was used as a derogatory slur intended to demean, ridicule, and delegitimise the spiritual and religious identity of Hindu ascetics. Such language reduces sacred religious practice to an object of contempt and portrays deep-seated hostility towards Hindu identity and its traditions. The verbal humiliation preceded and accompanied the physical assault, demonstrating that the violence was not only physical but also symbolic, aimed at degrading Hindu faith, mocking its adherents, and stripping them of dignity. Furthermore, the involvement of individuals linked to the Trinamool Congress, including the arrest of a local figure, demonstrates of political complicity. This case does not exist in isolation. It is part of a larger and growing pattern where Hindus in West Bengal have been targeted simply for practising their faith. Hindus have been previously arrested for chanting "Jai Shri Ram", denied permission to hold religious processions such as Ram Navami and Durga Visarjan, and have been subjected to censorship and police intimidation for exercising their religious and cultural rights. For instance, in 2019, at least 10 people were arrested in Barrackpore for chanting "Jai Shri Ram" near Mamata Banerjee’s convoy. The Chief Minister even publicly labelled those chanting the slogan as "criminals," effectively criminalising a sacred phrase used by millions of Hindus. Taken together, the targeted nature of the violence, the religious trigger and the suppression of outward expression of Hindu identity firmly establish this incident as a hate crime rooted in anti-Hindu prejudice. Thus, this case has been added to the database. Disclaimer: While this tracker acknowledges that multiple individuals, including more than one sadhu, were reportedly targeted and assaulted during the incident, only one victim, Swami Suryananda Maharaj, has been explicitly named and identified in available reports. Therefore, for documentation purposes, the victim count has been recorded as one.