Case Summary

Derogatory remarks targeting Hindus, their faith, and deities—particularly the Shivalinga, a sacred Hindu religious symbol representing Lord Shiva—were made by two Muslim sisters.​ This incident came to light when the Goa Police’s Crime Branch registered a case against two Muslim sisters studying at DAV School for sharing derogatory posts against Hindus, their faith, and deities on Instagram. Both sisters were summoned by the Crime Branch for questioning. This followed a Twitter user sharing screenshots of the contentious content posted by the two Muslim sisters, along with links to their Instagram accounts. The Twitter user stated that the two sisters abused Hindus and incited communal hatred.​ Goa Police took note of the matter; meanwhile, the Instagram accounts of the two Muslim sisters became unavailable. Indian Police Service officer Nidhin Valsan tweeted that a First Information Report had been filed in response to the tweet highlighting the actions of the two sisters, tainted with an anti-Hindu mindset. On 25 April 2023, Indian Police Service Valsan quoted the tweet and stated that the Crime Branch had summoned the accused twin sisters to appear for questioning.​ Twin sisters from Goa who made religiously derogatory Instagram posts were summoned under the Code of Criminal Procedure Section 41A by the Crime Branch, Goa, in the registered case, as Indian Police Service Nidhin Valsan tweeted.

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Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category selected in this case is- Hate Speech against Hindus. The subcategory 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. This case constituted a blatant instance of anti-Hindu hate speech through offensive remarks that targeted the Hindu community and their cherished faith. The two Muslim sisters unleashed derogatory content on Instagram that denigrated Hindus as a whole for their faith and religious practices, exposing a venomous disdain for an entire community bound by devotion. Such calculated assaults on a community's identity and beliefs laid bare deep-seated religious animosity, rendering this a textbook example of anti-Hindu hate speech.​ The perpetrators abused Hinduism and its sacred deities, with particular obscenity hurled at the Shiva Linga—a profound symbol representing Lord Shiva as the formless cosmic pillar of infinite energy, embodying creation, preservation, destruction, and the union of divine masculine and feminine principles central to Hindu worship. For millions of Hindus, the Shiva Linga evokes spiritual transformation, protection, harmony with nature's elements, and liberation from worldly cycles, making these obscene insults a direct assault on the faith's holiest tenets. This flagrant mockery showed utter contempt for Hindu religious sentiments, deliberately crafted to provoke outrage and wound the community's soul, thus marking it as unequivocal anti-Hindu hate speech fuelled by religious hostility.​ Reports confirmed that the Muslim sisters aimed to inflame communal hatred, proving their actions stemmed not from youthful folly but from malicious intent to sow division against Hindus and their faith within society. This deliberate bid to foster enmity elevated the incident beyond mere provocation into an orchestrated campaign of anti-Hindu bigotry. Since this case met every criterion for religiously motivated hate speech, it is being added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker.​ Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the dates of incidents based on when the crime occurs rather than when the media reports them. However, in this particular case, media reports did not specify the exact date when the accused made derogatory remarks against Hindu deities. Based on the reports, the incident came to light on social media on 18 April 2023, so this date is being selected as the indicative date of the incident.