Hindu woman's house doused, water tanks poisioned by Muslim mob amidst persecution of Hindus in West Bengal's Murshidabad
Murshidabad, West Bengal, India 
10 April, 2025
Case Summary
Amidst the anti-Hindu violence that Muslims unleashed in Murshidabad under the guise of protests against the newly enacted Waqf Amendment Act, the victims of the horror provided a detailed account of anti-Hindu violence. A destitute Hindu woman said, “We have come here with a lot of pain. We do not have a house or a roof over our heads. Everything has been set on fire. They (Muslims) doused our house with petrol, held a knife to our throats and poisoned our water tanks. How do we survive now?” One Hindu man recounted how he returned home to find his house turned into ashes. “I couldn’t take out anything. I do not have anything anymore,” he said as he broke down in tears. The Hindu man pointed out that the attackers were locals and that they had destroyed over 150 vehicles. These Hindu victims' testimonies substantiate the communal nature of the violence that Islamists have unleashed in West Bengal's Murshidabad district. On 11th April, 2025, Murshidabad district in West Bengal, which has a significant Muslim population, witnessed widespread violence, vandalism, arson, and targeted assaults against the Hindu community, all under the pretext of protests against the newly enacted Waqf Amendment Act. Following the conclusion of Jumma Namaz, mobs went on a rampage in the Suti and Samserganj areas, disrupting train services, damaging public infrastructure, and bringing normal life to a standstill. The office of the Block Development Officer (BDO) was vandalised with stones and sticks, creating an atmosphere of chaos and fear. However, what stands out is the deliberate and systematic targeting of the Hindu community under the guise of these protests. Local reports also suggested that Hindu temples were attacked and idols desecrated. Hundreds of Hindus have been compelled to flee their homes in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district in the wake of an Islamic onslaught carried out under the pretext of protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2025, an outbreak of violence that has already claimed three lives.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the prime category- Attack not resulting in death. The sub-category relevant in this case 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 other sub-category selected 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. This case clearly qualifies as a religiously motivated hate crime because the statements made by Hindu victims all point to violence directed at individuals solely because of their Hindu faith. The victims were targeted solely on the basis of their religious identity, without any provocation or involvement in any conflict. The harrowing testimonies, including accounts of petrol being poured on houses, knives held to victims’ throats, and poisoned water tanks, reflect deliberate targeting of Hindus. These acts were not part of a spontaneous protest or civil unrest but were calculated assaults intended to inflict suffering on the Hindu population for their religious beliefs. The trauma expressed by the victims underscores the religiously motivated nature of the violence, qualifying it as a hate crime. The scale and brutality of the violence, the arson of homes, and the victims’ forced displacement point to a larger motive—coercing Hindus into fleeing the locality. This tactic of using fear and targeted violence to engineer demographic changes by driving out members of a particular religious community has been observed in several similar incidents. This makes the case a textbook example of a hate crime driven by religious animosity.
Victim Details
Total Victim
2
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 1
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 2
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 2
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
