13-year old niqabi student slapped, harassed for months by teacher at Tamil Nadu school
A 13-year-old Muslim student who wears the niqab, a version of the Muslim veil that includes covering the face, reported that her Hindu supremacist teacher bullied her for months due to her Muslim identity, including by slapping her and forcing her to clean other students’ shoes with her niqab.
The student reported that her teacher also verbally abused her, demanding to know her family’s employment and saying, “You are this arrogant because you eat beef.”
Dalit man forced to hold employer’s shoe in mouth after asking for his salary
In a disturbing incident of caste-based violence, a 21-year-old Dalit man was assaulted by his employer, Vibhuti Patel, and at least six others simply for asking for his salary.
The victim, Nilesh Dalsaniya, reported that after he had asked for his salary after being suddenly fired, Patel did not respond to his calls. When he and two other associates went to Patel’s office, a group of men beat them, struck them with belts, and dragged them around. Dalsaniya was also forced to hold Patel’s shoe in his mouth as an “apology.”
Following halal food ban, UP govt orders all meat shops close on “No Non-Veg Day”
Following the Uttar Pradesh government’s arbitrary statewide ban on halal-certified products and subsequent crackdown on food products with the halal label, the state’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has further targeted Muslims by ordering that all meat shops be closed on November 25, on the birth anniversary of a Hindu religious leader.
The date was declared “No Non-Veg Day.” Closing meat shops largely affects Muslims and their livelihoods.
Militant group harasses caste-oppressed group for selling books that criticized Hindutva
In Chhattisgarh state, the Hindu militant group Bajrang Dal harassed an Ambedkarite group and filed a police complaint against its members for selling books that criticized Hindutva, also known as Hindu nationalism or Hindu supremacy. The militants complained that the book also referred to Adivasis, or Indian tribal communities, as “non-Hindus.”
Ambedkarites are followers of the teachings of B.R. Ambedkar, a Dalit rights leader who championed the end of caste-based oppression. Adivasi leaders have rejected the attempt by Hindu supremacists to “Hinduize” their religious practices.
BJP politicians, Hindu extremist leaders give hate speeches across India
Cases of violent anti-Muslim hate speech remain staggeringly common throughout India, with BJP politicians and Hindu extremist leaders making hate speeches across the nation. Most notably, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma gave a number of speeches in Telangana and Rajasthan states, where he used anti-Muslim slurs while calling for India to become a military, and boasted of demolishing 50,000 homes within the past three years.
Other cases include speeches given by Hindu supremacist leader Pravin Togadia in Uttar Pradesh, where he called for India to become a military state; and Home Minister Amit Shah in Telangana, where he promised to rescind the Muslim percentage within India’s reservation system. The reservation system, similar to Affirmative Action in the US, reserves a certain percentage of positions within education, employment, and government for disadvantaged groups.
