Muslim school teacher gets a Hindu student beaten by a Muslim student, victim's father says son was hit for being Hindu

Case ID : e97a360 | Location : Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Mon, 25 September, 2023

Case ID : e97a360

Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, India

25 September, 2023

Muslim school teacher gets a Hindu student beaten by a Muslim student, victim's father says son was hit for being Hindu

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, a teacher has been accused of getting a class 5 Hindu student beaten by a Muslim classmate. The incident occurred in St. Anthony’s School in Dugawar village of Asmoli police station area of Sambhal district. The Hindu student’s father alleged that a teacher named Shaista ordered a Muslim student to beat their son. He said that the teacher got their son beaten saying that he was a Hindu. The Hindu student’s father complained to the school administration and the police. According to a report by Times of India, the father in his complaint said that the incident also had a religious angle. The police arrested the teacher, Shaista, and started the investigation. Along with this, the school principal, Semina has suspended the accused teacher from the school. Shaista is booked under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, etc) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Why it is Hate Crime ?

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. In this case, the minor Hindu boy's father testified that his son was beaten up by his Muslim classmate on the instructions of their Muslim teacher merely for his religious identity. Based on the statement of the victim's father, this case is classified as a hate crime where the victim was targeted specifically because of his religious identity.