Case Summary

In Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, a Dalit Hindu man named Ankit was brutally attacked by a Muslim mob for playing a Hindu bhajan in his e-rickshaw. According to the victim, the incident occurred around 7 PM, when he was heading to charge his e-rickshaw near Imali Mohalla. As he passed through Sabir Chowk, a group of Muslims stopped him and objected to him playing Shiv bhajan in his rickshaw. Ankit turned off the music and questioned their behaviour. Ankit insisted that he was not playing any cheap songs; it was only devotional songs. However, no confrontation occurred at that point, and he put his vehicle on charge and went away. When he came back, he was surrounded by a Muslim mob of about 15-20 people led by Bhura, Sameer, Usman, Azim, and Nurrahman. The Muslim men first abused him and used caste-based slurs, calling him a 'Chamaar. ' The accused then dragged him inside a nearby house where they brutally assaulted him with the intent to strangle and kill him. CCTV footage captured parts of the incident, showing the mob dragging the victim inside a house. After brutally assaulting him, the Muslim mob threatened him and fled the scene. As of the date of writing this report, a case was registered by the police against the Muslim mob along with the named accused. Three accused were arrested, and the investigation was ongoing.

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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 second 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 third sub-category selected here is- Attacked 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. This case has been added to the tracker because a Dalit Hindu man was brutally attacked by a Muslim mob for playing a Shiv bhajan in his e-rickshaw. The only trigger in this case was the Shiv bhajan being played; this alone was enough for the mob to launch a violent and targeted assault on the victim. This is on the lines of a pattern where Hindus are attacked by the Muslims just for expressing their religious identity or for outward display of their faith or devotion. Be it a bhajan, a tilak, or a kalava, any outward display of Hindu faith is treated as provocation by Muslims, especially in Muslim dominated areas. Here too, the Muslims got offended when the victim was heading to charge his e-rickshaw near Imali Mohalla, a Muslim dominated locality and launched a brutal attack. The attack was unprovoked in nature, and the Hindu victim had done nothing which could be branded as provocation leading to the violence by the Muslim mob. The unprovoked attack was driven by intrinsic and doctrinal religious animosity which also stemmed from the fact that the Hindu was playing the Hindu devotional songs while his e-rickshaw was crossing an area which had a Muslim-majority population. In areas with a majority Muslim population, Hindus often face hostility since the tenets of Islam harbour antagonism towards the Hindu faith and the adherents of Hinduism. Such religious and doctrinal animosity manifests in violence against Hindu individuals when they outwardly display their faith in areas with a Muslim majority. Since the violence was a product of religious animosity, this case is being categorised as a religiously motivated hate crime. The fact that the attackers launched a violent assault, combined with caste-based slurs, further compounds the deep-rooted religious hatred that these radicals openly endorse towards Hindus. It may be argued 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, the Muslim mob hurled caste abuses at the victim because of the animosity towards Hinduism and Hindus. While the immediate trigger of the violence was playing of 'Shiv bhajan, which itself is enough for the case to be included in the tracker. The fact that caste slurs were hurled at the victim, to further humiliate and dehumanise him, by the perpetrator makes it a significant case of religiously motivated hate crime against the victim. Disclaimer: The exact number of accused individuals is not clearly specified in the available reports. However, since it is stated that Bhura, Sameer, Usman, Azim, and Nurrahman, along with 15 to 20 other Muslim associates, surrounded Ankit for documentation, the total number of accused has been recorded as 25.