Muslim mob beat up Hindu youths after seeing Rudraksha necklace around one of the victim's neck

Case ID : fdf2f00 | Location : Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 8 August, 2023

Case ID : fdf2f00

Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India

8 August, 2023

Muslim mob beat up Hindu youths after seeing Rudraksha necklace around one of the victim's neck

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

Two Hindu men, named Naveen and Hrithik, were thrashed by a Muslim mob near a mosque in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. The former worked as a Zomato delivery boy who had gone to fulfil a food delivery order along with his friend on the evening of 9 August, when a crowd of 30 to 40 people thrashed him and left them bleeding. The incident pertained to the Shyam Nagar area of the Lisari Gate police station area of Meerut. According to the victims, the reason behind the unwarranted assault was the rudraksha beads around the neck. They were first asked their names and then attacked by the mob.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

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 victims in this case were Hindu youths who worked for the food delivery app, Zomato. They were brutally assaulted by a Muslim mob after they saw one of them donning a Rudraksha necklace around his neck. Rudraksha mala has significant spiritual and symbolic importance in Hinduism. The beads are revered for their association with Lord Shiva, one of the principal deities in Hinduism. The victims testified that the Muslim perpetrators inquired about their name and identity before launching a vicious attack on them. This proves that the trigger for the attack was the religious identity of the victims. Given that the fundamental motivation behind these actions is contempt for the Hindu religion, this instance has been added to the tracker under the following category.