Stones pelted at Hindus during Eid procession in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh

Case ID : e97a389 | Location : Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 27 September, 2023

Case ID : e97a389

Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh, India

27 September, 2023

Stones pelted at Hindus during Eid procession in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh

Attack not resulting in death

Communal clash/attack

Case Summary

On 28 September 2023, there was a ruckus in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh when Muslims took out the Eid procession from a new route than the usual one. Hindus asked for reasons for the change of route, leading to Muslims starting to argue with Hindus in foul language and even beating up Hindus. Following this, the radical Muslims also began pelting stones at the Hindu community. Based on the videos, five Muslims have been arrested, and cases have been filed against 25 unknown individuals. The matter is of Banveerpur village under Sadarpur village of Sitapur district. The aggrieved Hindus have said in their complaint to the police that people of the Muslim community were taking out a procession from the southern end of the village towards the north. Before this, a procession had never been taken out through this route. Hindus said that when they asked the reason behind this sudden change in plan, the people of the Muslim community under whose direction this procession was being organised, started abusing the Hindus and started a scuffle. The Hindu side said that after this they were pelted with stones by the Muslims. The Hindu side alleged that the attack was a part of a pre-planned conspiracy. Bricks and stones etc. were collected on the rooftops in advance. The same started being rained on them. In the complaint lodged by the aggrieved Hindus, it was further stated that the religious fanatics barged into Hindus’ houses and harassed the women. This created tension in the area and Hindus were terrorised due to such behaviour. Cases were filed against Salim, Puttan, Ishtiyak, Sanu, Aitullah, Saimullah, Rahim, Gufran, Shibu, Moin, Qadir, etc., besides filing of cases against 25 unknown people.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

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.