Case Summary

In the Katra Bazaar police station area of Gonda, a Dalit family from the village of Nindura faced severe intimidation over their land and was pressured to convert from their faith. Deshraj, a member of the Scheduled Caste community and a resident of the village, sought the intervention of Superintendent of Police Vineet Jaiswal. He approached the authorities for protection and justice, as he and his family feared for their safety and dignity amidst growing threats from members of the Muslim community in his locality. Deshraj stated that Abu Rahma and his wife attempted to seize his residential land, even though a stay order had already been granted by the court. Despite the legal protection, they continued to harass him using caste-based slurs and threats. The pressure extended beyond land encroachment, as Deshraj reported being coerced into accepting Islam. He added that his community in the village was very small, consisting of only a few households, while the opposing side numbered in the thousands, leaving them vastly outnumbered and vulnerable. Local BJP MLA Bawan Singh took cognisance of the matter and met with the Superintendent of Police to ensure swift action. Responding to the situation, SP Vineet Jaiswal formed an investigation team under the leadership of the Circle Officer of Colonelganj, Saurabh Verma. MLA Bawan Singh assured Deshraj and the local community that he would not allow any injustice to befall any individual, reinforcing the importance of protecting the rights of marginalised communities in the face of intimidation and coercion.

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Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under multiple categories. The first prime category under which it has been placed is- Predatory Proselytisation. The sub-category selected within this is- Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion. Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, including threats and coercion. Harassment and threats, in this case, find their root on discriminatory grounds which has the effect of nullifying a person’s rights or infringing upon his freedom to exercise his right specifically owing to the victim’s religious identity. Verbal and physical threats and psychological or physical harassment are often used against Hindu victims because they choose to practice their professed religion. Religious harassment also includes forced and involuntary conversions by harassment, threats or coercion. Coercion includes intimidatory tactics like force-feeding a Hindu victim beef to convert to another religion, forceful circumcision etc. In several cases documented, non-Hindu perpetrators or those who harbour specific animosity towards Hinduism, harass victims simply based on their religious identity. Such cases often also include harassment to ensure the Hindu victim abandons his/her professed religion and adopts the religion of the perpetrator. Such cases where Hindu victims are harassed to convert to the perpetrator’s religion are rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. The second category selected is- Hate speech against Hindus, and within this, the sub-category selected 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 third category relevant here is- Attack not resulting in death, and within this, the sub-category chosen is- Attacked to induce migration from non-Hindu dominated area. There have been cases where the Hindus living in an area, often with a majority dwelling belonging to non-Hindus or those harbouring animosity towards the Hindu faith, the Hindu residents experience threats and violence. The violence is employed with the aim of making the Hindus leave the area and relocate, so the area could be turned into an exclusive ghetto for adherents of the non-Hindu faith or those who harbor animosity towards the Hindu faith. In several cases, the aim of exodus is explicit. However, in several cases, the demand for exodus of Hindu residents is not explicit, however, violence by non-Hindu residents leaves the Hindu residents no option but to leave the area, thereby, turning the area into an exclusive ghetto of non-Hindu residents. In such cases, there are instances violence against the Hindu residents explicitly. For example, in the Hauz Qazi case of 2019, the Muslim residents claimed that mob violence against the Hindu residents had been triggered by a parking dispute. However, the violence did turn religious with a temple being desecrated and was directed specifically against the Hindu residents. The Hindu residents of the area were clear that the violence was religiously motivated and one of the motives was to affect an exodus of the Hindu residents. In such cases, even though the perpetrators have not explicitly expressed the aim of affecting exodus, the given circumstances and violence and precedent point to the intention of exodus and therefore would be categorised under this sub-category. Such crimes are religiously motivated and therefore are hate crimes. The incident in Nindura village of Gonda district presents a pattern of religiously motivated aggression targeted at a marginalised Hindu Dalit family. Deshraj and his household were not only subjected to forceful attempts to dispossess them of their legally protected land but also faced sustained pressure to abandon their Hindu faith and convert to Islam. The coercion was not incidental—it was persistent and accompanied by threats, casteist abuse, and social intimidation. In a locality where the Hindu Dalit population is minuscule and the Muslim group is numerically and socially dominant, the tactics employed by the perpetrators clearly sought to overwhelm and break the resistance of a vulnerable family through fear and force. This orchestrated harassment included hate-filled language targeting their religious identity, not just mocking their faith but also demeaning them based on caste, thereby deepening the layers of humiliation and targeting. It can be argued here that a caste-specific slur is aimed at her micro identity of belonging to the Dalit section of the Hindu community and not her Hindu identity itself. However, as far as Abrahamic religions are concerned, the micro identities of caste, region, and language are secondary. It is the religious identity that drives the animosity of the perpetrator against the Hindu victim. In this case, while Qadir hurled caste abuses at the victim, the animosity was driven by his animosity towards Hinduism and Hindus. While the immediate trigger of the violence could be the "love triangle" as mentioned in reports, the fact that caste slurs were hurled at the victim by the perpetrator makes it a religiously motivated hate crime against the victim. Further, what makes this incident especially alarming is the weaponisation of numerical dominance and religious identity to exert control, displace Hindu families, and silence any dissent. The threats were not only about converting or relinquishing land but also about creating an atmosphere so hostile that staying would no longer be safe or viable for the victims. Such actions aim at changing the religious character of the area by forcing non-Muslim residents into submission or expulsion. This is a textbook case of religiously motivated hate and coercion, systematic, calculated, and deeply prejudiced, targeting both the faith and survival of a Hindu family. As such, the attack stands as a clear example of anti-Hindu hate and for this reason has been included in the tracker. Disclaimer: In this case, it has been reported that a Hindu family faced harassment and coercion. However, since the exact number of family members involved has not been clearly specified, the victim count has been recorded as one — the Hindu man who officially lodged the complaint.