Hindu extremist mob attacks Muslim foreign nationals praying at university hostel
A mob of over 200 Hindu extremists violently attacked Muslim foreign students while they were offering taraweeh prayers at their university hostel in far-right Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Gujarat’s Ahmedabad. The mob attacked the students with knives, cricket bats, stones and other weapons while chanting the Hindu supremacist warcry “Jai Sri Ram” and other Islamophobic slogans. The extremists also ransacked the hostel rooms, destroying laptops, phones, and bikes.
Victims included students from Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and several African countries. Five students have sustained severe injuries. After videos of the incident went viral on social media, police have arrested three attackers.
Police stop Christian prayer meet in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh
In Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh, police stopped a Christian prayer meeting over baseless suspicions of forced religious conversion. Last month, in Bahraich, police arrested four Christians over false allegations of engaging in forced religious conversion, and raided a house hosting a Christian prayer meeting.
Raids on churches and prayer meetings have become common under several Indian states’ draconian anti-conversion laws, which criminalize conversion away from Hinduism.
Police open fire at alleged “cattle smugglers,” victims sustains bullet wound
In BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh’s Shajapur, police fired gunshots at alleged “cattle smugglers,” who sustained bullet injuries in their legs.
The incident is the latest in an ongoing trend of violent attacks against predominantly Muslim cattle traders by law enforcement. Over the last few months, multiple such injuries have occurred due to police firing.
Hindu militant leaders stoke fear and hate against Muslims
In Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, Hindu militant group Bajrang Dal leader Neeraj Denoria gave a speech saying that all Muslims should have left India in 1947, the year that India gained independence. He also delivered an inflammatory speech in the capital city of Delhi, stoking hatred against Muslims. In Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh, Bajrang Dal leader peddled conspiracy theories to stoke fear and hate against Muslims.
