Hindu youth harassed, assaulted and hurled casteist abuse by a group of Muslim men in Pakistan

Case ID : ea34d9e | Location : Sukkur, Sindh, Pakistan | Date of Incident : Sat, 24 May, 2025

Case ID : ea34d9e

Sukkur, Sindh, Pakistan

24 May, 2025

Hindu youth harassed, assaulted and hurled casteist abuse by a group of Muslim men in Pakistan

Hate speech against Hindus

Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Saleh Pet, Sukkur, Pakistan, a Hindu youth named Vicky was harassed, physically assaulted and hurled casteist abuse by three Muslim men named as Nadeem, Zubair, and Umair. He was harassed just because he was from a lower caste and was a Hindu. The assault was motivated by both religious and caste-based hatred, reflecting a broader pattern of targeted hostility against religious minorities in Pakistan. Such incidents contribute to an atmosphere of fear and marginalisation for the Hindu community in Pakistan, particularly in areas where they are already socially, economically and politically vulnerable. The silence of authorities and the failure of the justice system further deepens their suffering, leaving them feeling helpless and unheard.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of: - Hate speech against Hindus. Within it, 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 other primary category relevant here is: - Attack not resulting in death. Within it, the sub-category selected 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 case has been added to the tracker due to the fact that a Hindu man was harassed, physically assaulted by a group of Muslim men. In Pakistan, many men, women and even children are harassed just because of their Hindu identity and are subjected to sexual exploitation or physical assault by Islamists. Even in this case, he was physically assaulted and hurled casteist abuse, without any provocation, just because he was a Hindu living in a Muslim majority Pakistan. It can be argued 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. The fact that caste slurs were hurled at the victim by the perpetrator makes it a religiously motivated hate crime against the victim. This incident is not isolated—it reflects a deeply entrenched pattern of religiously motivated violence against Hindus in Sindh and other parts of Pakistan. Hindu men, women, and children routinely have to face physical assaults, caste or religious humiliation, abductions, sexual violence, and forced conversions. These attacks are often driven by the belief of religious supremacy in Islam, where the lives of Hindus are considered inferior, which can be violated with impunity. The lack of legal protection, complicit silence of the authorities, and systemic failures of the judicial system perpetuate a climate of fear and injustice. Such cases illustrate how Hindu minorities in Pakistan are deliberately targeted for their faith, reinforcing the urgent need for international scrutiny and pressure to ensure the safety, dignity, and human rights of these vulnerable communities.