Hindu man brutally attacked by Muslim mob over allegations of 'blasphemy' in Karnataka

Case ID : e27554d | Location : Haveri, Karnataka, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 20 September, 2025

Case ID : e27554d

Haveri, Karnataka, India

20 September, 2025

Hindu man brutally attacked by Muslim mob over allegations of 'blasphemy' in Karnataka

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked over 'Blasphemy'

Case Summary

In Ranebennur, Haveri, Karnataka, a Hindu doctor named Dr Gurumurthy Rachotimath was brutally attacked by a Muslim mob over unverified allegations of blasphemy against Islam. The attackers also torched a bike, which was parked outside the victim's clinic. According to media reports, the Hindu victim, Dr Rachotimath, is a resident of Rajeshwari Nagar. On the day of the incident, tensions flared in Ranebennur town after the Hindu victim was violently attacked by a Muslim mob for allegedly making derogatory remarks against the Muslim community and Islam. Reports confirmed that a group of around 20 to 30 Muslims, including Maksad Momin, Syed Ahmad Makandar, Syed Honnali, Jaffar Sadiq Killedar, and Abdul Monap Momin, stormed the doctor’s clinic, accusing him of insulting Islam and launched a violent assault. The attackers set fire to an electric bike parked outside the clinic, escalating the situation. Following this, the police from Ranebennur Town Station intervened, rescuing the doctor and taking him to the Taluk Government Hospital for treatment. Subsequently, both a case and a counter-case were registered at Ranebennur Town Police Station, with further investigations ongoing.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Attack not resulting in death. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Attacked over 'Blasphemy'. Blasphemy essentially refers to the desecration of anything which is held sacred/holy to a group of people. However, for religious supremacist groups, the elements of ‘blasphemy’ are ever-changing, shifting and expanding – leading to infringement on the rights of other religious groups, freedom of speech and expression, threats and even physical violence. There are instances where blasphemy is also used as a dog whistle to target Hindus owing to intrinsic animosity towards Hinduism. There are several instances where stating truths as mentioned in the non-Hindu doctrine itself has led to unmitigated violence against Hindus. There have also been instances where non-Hindus have themselves created a ‘blasphemous’ situation, like placing a Quran in a temple, to use it as an excuse to attack Hindus. Essentially, Blasphemy charges are often made up and/or are used to shut down any form of criticism of non-Hindu faiths and as a tool to target Hindus. Any physical violence over Blasphemy charges against Hindus are foundationally based on animosity for Hindus and their faith owing to religious supremacist ideologies, therefore, such attacks would be documented as religious motivated hate crimes under this category. In this case, it is highly likely that most of the Muslim mob had no clear knowledge of what the Hindu man actually said, but that hardly mattered. The crowd was driven primarily by deep-rooted bias against Hindus. In many instances of so-called ‘blasphemy,’ Muslim mobs often only need an excuse to attack non-Muslims, especially Hindus. The charge of blasphemy has become a common and convenient trigger, frequently fabricated or exaggerated, to justify violence against Hindus. The criteria for what amounts to blasphemy are often vague and shifting, allowing extremists to weaponise it at will, making Hindus easy targets of brutal attacks. In such cases, a mere allegation of blasphemy is enough to spark outrage, mob violence, and assault on Hindu victims. Muslim extremists have historically used these charges as a pretext to incite violence, settle personal scores, or intimidate Hindus into silence and submission. The disproportionate targeting of Hindus under the guise of blasphemy is no accident but stems from deep-seated religious prejudice. The charge acts as a tool to unleash violent rampages against the Hindu community. In this incident, the Hindu victim was attacked by a Muslim mob over unproven allegations of blasphemy. Instead of pursuing legal avenues, the mob resorted to violence, using the unverified charge as an excuse to target the victim’s religious identity. This is not an isolated event but part of a larger, entrenched pattern of systemic religious targeting. Such spurious allegations are weaponised to legitimise hate crimes and social ostracism against Hindus. Furthermore, this is not the first time such violent outrage has occurred against Hindus over blasphemy allegations. In 2022, former BJP leader Nupur Sharma faced beheading and gang-rape threats from Muslim extremists over her remarks on the Prophet of Islam and his child bride Aisha’s marriage. Despite merely quoting Islamic hadiths, she was relentlessly hounded and forced to live under constant security due to credible threats. Similarly, in 2022, a Hindu youth named Prakash Lonare was attacked by a Muslim mob in Karnataka’s Bagalkote over his social media comment on Tipu Sultan, an Islamic tyrant known for murdering and forcibly converting thousands of Hindus. Prakash’s simple act of adding a smiley emoji to a post about Tipu Sultan provoked an enraged mob of 15-20 people who assaulted him. Therefore, it is evident that such unverified accusations of blasphemy are mere excuses to target the Hindu community, making them religiously motivated hate crimes. Since this case meets the criteria of a religiously motivated crime, it is being recorded in the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the date of incidents based on when the attack on the victim occurred, rather than when it is reported by the media. However, in this case, media reports have not specified the exact date of the incident; they only describe the occurrence. Therefore, for the purpose of documentation, we are recording the date on which the incident was first reported by the media, which was 21st September 2025. This date is being used as an indicative date of the incident to ensure consistent record-keeping and transparency.