Hindu woman harassed, Hindu deities insulted in verbal scuffle by Muslim men

Case ID : ea348dc | Location : Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 19 April, 2025

Case ID : ea348dc

Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India

19 April, 2025

Hindu woman harassed, Hindu deities insulted in verbal scuffle by Muslim men

Hate speech against Hindus

Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In the Mayank Blue Water Park situated on the bypass road in Indore, a Hindu woman visiting with her husband was subjected to inappropriate gestures by three Muslim men while bathing in the pool. The woman’s husband, who was also in the pool, noticed the behaviour and signalled his wife to move away. When he intervened, the accused made offensive remarks about Hindu deities before jumping into the pool to evade confrontation. Following the disturbance, the woman's husband contacted members of a Hindu organisation, who soon arrived at the scene. As the situation escalated, the accused attempted to flee, but two of them were apprehended from inside the changing rooms. The two were identified as Sohail Khan and Sadik Khan, residents of Katkatpura, while a third individual named Faizan managed to escape. The gathering crowd led to a scuffle, during which the apprehended individuals were assaulted before being handed over to the police. Police registered a case after members of the Hindu organisation surrounded the police station, demanding action. According to the group, the accused were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident. They further stated that such cases of targeting Hindu women at picnic spots, water parks, and hotels by certain groups of Muslim youths have been recurring, and called for stricter measures to prevent such incidents in the future.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the prime category- Hate Speech against Hindus. The sub-category relevant in this case is- Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith. Anti-Hindu slurs and the deliberate mocking of the Hindu faith owing to religious animosity involve the usage of derogatory terms, stereotypes, or offensive references to religious practices, symbols, or figures. One of the common anti-Hindu slurs used against Hindus is “cow-worshipper” and “cow piss drinker”. The intention of using this term is to demean and mock Hindus as a group and their religious beliefs since Hindus consider the cow holy. Additionally, some symbols and the slurs attached to them have a historical context that exacerbates the insult, hate, stereotyping, dehumanisation and oppression against Hindus. Cow worship has been used for centuries to denigrate Hindus, insult their faith and oppress Hindus specifically as a religious group. There has been overwhelming documentation about how cow slaughter has been used to persecute Hindus with cow meat being thrown in temples and places of worship. There has also been overwhelming documentation where cow meat (beef) has been force-fed to Hindus to either forcefully convert them to Islam or denigrate their faith. Apart from cow worship, the Swastika – which holds deep religious significance for the Hindus – has also been misinterpreted and distorted to use as a slur against Hindus. Similarly, the worship of the Shivling has been used by supremacist ideologies and religions to denigrate Hindus owing to religious animosity. Such slurs and denigration stem out of inherent animosity and hate towards Hindus and their faith, therefore, it is categorised as hate speech targeted at Hindus specifically owing to their religious identity. The other primary category selected is- 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. This incident is categorised as a hate crime not only due to the derogatory remarks made against the Hindu faith but also because a Hindu woman was specifically targeted in a public space. While she was simply enjoying a day out with her husband, she was subjected to sexually inappropriate gestures by a group of men who, upon being confronted, responded by mocking her religious identity. The use of anti-Hindu slurs and offensive references to Hindu deities was not incidental but deliberate, serving to humiliate and intimidate the woman on account of her faith. This act of targeting a woman both for her gender and religion underscores the layered nature of the abuse, combining sexual harassment with religious hatred. Such incidents reflect a dangerous pattern where Hindu women become symbolic targets for expressing hostility towards the community at large. The attack goes beyond personal misconduct and enters the realm of communal antagonism, as the woman was not only objectified but also insulted through her religious identity. These actions carry historical and communal weight, reinforcing centuries-old patterns of using women as instruments through which religious communities are degraded. It is this intersection of misogyny and religious animosity that makes the incident especially grave, warranting its classification as a hate crime under both sexual and religious targeting.