Hindu man doxxed and harassed for supporting Nupur Sharma and voicing criticism against rising Islamisim in India

Case ID : e97a5c0 | Location : United Arab Emirates | Date of Incident : Fri, 16 June, 2023

Case ID : e97a5c0

United Arab Emirates

16 June, 2023

Hindu man doxxed and harassed for supporting Nupur Sharma and voicing criticism against rising Islamisim in India

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for supporting 'blasphemy' accused

Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim

Hate speech against Hindus

Doxxing and harassment of Hindu for religious reasons

Case Summary

Islamists targeted an Indian Hindu businessman named Ram (name changed) on social media for supporting Nupur Sharma. Ram had voiced criticism against rising Islamism in India, encroachment on Hindu land under the guise of prayer offerings, and appeasement politics. He also spoke out against the normalization of hijab in schools, incidents of Islamists spitting on food, and the issue of love jihad. Some of his tweets, which were geotagged to Dubai, prompted Islamists to demand his immediate arrest and deportation from the Gulf nation. Both Indian and international Islamists labelled him as 'anti-Muslim' and 'Islamophobic'. X handle 'South Asia Index' claimed that UAE authorities had initiated an investigation into Ram's supposed 'Islamophobic tweets'. The social media Islamists had doxxed and harassed the Hindu man, leading to an investigation,

Why it is Hate Crime ?

Distinct elements in this particular case demonstrate that the crime was committed while harbouring a bias against the Hindu faith. As per case details, the prime category under which this case has been placed in the hate tracker is 'Attack not resulting in death'. Further, to break down the case, two sub-categories, namely, 'Attacked for supporting 'blasphemy' accused' and 'Attacked for opposing radicals/or trying to save victim from radicals' under this prime category have been chosen. Attacked for supporting 'blasphemy' accused: 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. In such cases, after accusing a Hindu of ‘blasphemy’, often those supporting the Hindu being targeted are also physically attacked. Such attacks are purely motivated by religious animosity towards Hindus and are therefore categorized as religiously motivated hate crimes under this category. Attacked for opposing radicals/or trying to save victim from radicals: In several cases, Hindus are attacked for opposing religiously motivated crimes being committed against a fellow Hindu or simply for voicing an opinion opposing radical elements, who either have in the past or continue to persecute Hindus. In such cases, the initial attack against the victim, against which the Hindu was trying to defend the victim, would also need to be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime. Since the initial crime itself was religiously motivated and the subsequent crime of attempting to save the victim or speaking against the radical elements ends up inviting a violent attack, it would also be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under this category. The second primary category this case is being added to is 'hate speech against Hindus' under the sub-category 'doxxing and harassment of a Hindu for religious reasons'. Doxxing is the act of making available publicly personal, identifiable information of an individual with the intention of compromising their safety, security and privacy. When doxing is done with religious animosity forming the basis of the intention, it often involves severe consequences like loss of employment, physical harm, physical threat, harassment and/or discrimination for the victim’s religious beliefs. Such doxxing also involves projecting the religious beliefs, affiliations, and rituals of the victim, specifically a Hindu, in a manner that can lead to loss of employment, physical harm, physical threat, harassment and/or discrimination. Apart from doxxing, harassment would also include misrepresentation of an individual's views and religious beliefs that would invite abuse, loss of employment, physical harm, physical threat, harassment and/or discrimination owing to religious hate and animosity. There have been several such instances where religious animosity by one section has led to the doxxing and harassment of Hindus. For example, when a Hindu who worked in the UAE commented on the historical persecution of Hindus at the hands of Muslim invaders, his information was leaked online leading to loss of employment, physical harm, physical threat, harassment and/or discrimination. In another case, a Hindu man’s information was leaked online, leading to violent attacks, after he responded with an emoji to a post about Tipu Sultan, the Islamic tyrant who persecuted Hindus. Such cases are born out of intrinsic religious animosity towards Hindus and therefore, would be considered religiously motivated hate speech. In this instance, a Hindu youth had to face violence by a Muslim mob as he extended his support to former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, who was receiving death and rape threats over an alleged ‘blasphemous’ remark about Prophet Muhammad on May 26. It is pertinent to note that Nupur Sharma had only quoted an excerpt from the Islamic Hadith during a TV show in response to an insult to Lord Shiv by a Muslim panelist. The video of her remark was then selectively shared by Mohammad Zubair, the co-founder of AltNews. This led to threats at Sharma and attacks on those who supported her. Thereafter, Muslims executed, attacked, and threatened several people for supporting Nupur Sharma. In this case, the Hindu youth faced violence by the Muslim mob for his support to Nupur Sharma. Additionally, Islamists were also irked by his views on rising Islamism in India and the atrocities that the Hindus have been facing at the hands of radicals. Such intolerance, which seeks to impede people's freedom of speech if their opinions do not align with Islamic perceptions and opinions, stems from an intrinsic animosity Islamists harbour against Hindus and their beliefs. Additionally, as mentioned in the definition, blasphemy is often used as an excuse to commit violence against Hindus, against whom, the animosity is theologically embedded in Islam. For this reason, this case has been categorized as a hate crime and included in the tracker.