Chicago student burns Quran, Hindutva influence suspected
A video has recently surfaced showing a Chicago high school student burning and desecrating the Quran, leading to widespread concern from the local Muslim community as well as advocacy groups such as the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Indian American Muslim Council.
Evidence shows that the student responsible, who is from the Hindu community, has a history of engaging in anti-Muslim activities. In 2021, the student left comments on the Naperville city website opposing the construction of a mosque, joining in on a campaign led by Hindu rightwing groups in the US and Hindu supremacists in India to push back against the mosque’s construction.
Chicago has long been a hotbed of activity for Hindu rightwing groups, which have invited prominent Hindu supremacist hatemongers to the city and pushed for discrimination against Muslims.
Protest held in support of Hindu extremists accused of lynching of 18yo Muslim
A few days ago, Mohammad Iqbal, an 18-year-old Muslim resident of Rajasthan’s Jaipur was lynched to death by a mob of around 40–50 violent Hindu extremists amid cries of “Jai Sri Ram.” Police had arrested several accused, however, Hindu extremists have now staged a heavily attended protest in support of the accused murderers.
Muslim lawyer subject to verbal and physical abuse by police officials
A Muslim lawyer, Abid, suffered verbal abuse and physical assault by three police officials in Mumbai, Maharashtra after he was unable to show them his driver’s license. He was taken inside a police vehicle, slapped, kicked, and beaten with rods. Another police official called him a “terrorist” and commented that Abid must be killed and dumped in a nearby river.
School teacher beaten for organizing Muslim prayers as part of awareness program
In Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Hindu extremists beat a teacher at a local school for allegedly asking students to offer Muslim prayers as part of an awareness program to educate students about practices of different religions, including Islam.
Over 1000 arrested in 2nd round of anti-Muslim crackdown in Assam
Assam’s Hindu supremacist Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sharma, has said that police have arrested about 1,039 people on the pretext of indulging in child marriages. He had earlier threatened to arrest 3,000 Muslim men within 10 days over child marriage. This is the second round of a crackdown that began in February this year, when the Hindu supremacist BJP government in Assam state arrested over 2,500 men, mostly Muslims.
The massive crackdown has come in for severe criticism from legal luminaries and political leaders who believe that it is part of the Hindu supremacist government’s larger motive to demonize and harass Muslims.
