Hindu Terrorists Violently Attack Muslim Areas In Karnataka Over Murder Of Hindu Extremist Group Member

Hindu terrorists violently attacked Muslim-majority areas in Shimoga district of Karnataka state in retaliation for the killing of Harsha, an active member of the dangerous Hindu extremist group Bjarang Dal. While Muslims denied they were involved in Harsha’s killing, and though Harsha’s killers and their motive have yet to be identified, K. S. Eshwarappa, Karnataka’s rural development minister and member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), declared outright that the attack was the fault of “Muslim goons.”

Despite the fact that there is no evidence to suggest definitively that Muslims killed Harsha, mobs of up to 300 Hindu extremists ravaged Muslim-majority areas, lighting several vehicles on fire, pelting stones at Muslim-owned homes and properties, destroying a place of worship, breaking and entering Muslim residences, and uprooting flags while chanting religious slogans. One innocent Muslim man was also brutally beaten by Hindu extremists. 

The violence was carried out despite the fact that Harsha’s sister, Ashwini, said in an interview that Harsha was killed as a result of his membership in a Hindu group like the Bajrang Dal. 

“This is the condition of my brother today after being trapped in Hindu-Hindutva politics. My request to all Hindu-Muslim brothers is not to get caught in the politics of religion, be a good child of your parents,” she said. 

“Even though Muslims have no role in the murder, these people are attacking their homes,” said Mansoor, a Muslim resident of the area.

“What happened (with Harsha) was wrong. But what was our crime?… The police were always present around the area earlier. But when the arson happened, the police were not present,” said another Muslim resident.

Burqa-Clad Muslim Girl Stopped From Making Transactions At Bank In Bihar

As anti-hijab discrimination spreads across India, a Muslim girl was stopped from making transactions at a United Commercial (UCO) Bank in Bihar state for wearing the burqa. In a viral video of the incident, a group of bank tellers could be seen demanding that the girl take off her hijab in order to withdraw money, which the girl refused to do. 

“My daughter and I used to come to the bank every month, but no one had ever objected in the past. Why are they doing it now? If any such thing has been implemented in Karnataka, why are they implementing it in Bihar? Do they have any written notification about banning Hijab in banking operations?” the young woman’s father demanded in the video. 

Tejashwi Yadav, an opposition leader in Bihar, retweeted the video with the caption, “Respect the Constitution at least and arrest the alleged employees.”

Emboldened by the ongoing anti-hijab hatred in Karnataka, Hindu extremists across the country have begun attempting to ban the hijab in colleges and other institutions in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and other states. 

United Nations Special Procedures Experts Demand End To Judicial Harassment Of India-Based Washington Post Columnist Rana Ayyub 

United Nations Special Procedures Experts Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, demanded that the Modi government immediately end the judicial harassment of Washington Post columnist Rana Ayyub, whose investigative reporting on senior members of the BJP and criticism of Hindu supremacy has led to extensive harassment from BJP supporters and other Hindu extremists online and offline. 

“Relentless misogynistic and sectarian attacks online against journalist @RanaAyyub  must be promptly and thoroughly investigated by the Indian authorities and the judicial harassment against her brought to an end at once,” read the tweet from the official UN Geneva account.

The Indian government dismissed the demands as “baseless” and “unwarranted,” despite the fact that Ayyub has received over 26,000 rape and death threats through social media, mainly through her Twitter account, due to her criticism of Modi and India’s backsliding on democratic values. 

Demand For Hindu Nation Growing Each Day In Chhattisgarh State, Warns Muslim Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi

Asaduddin Owaisi, Member of Parliament and chief of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) party, warned that the demand for a “Hindu rashtra (nation)” has been growing by the day in Chhattisgarh state ever since Hindu extremists held a massive anti-Muslim hate speech event in Uttarakhand state last December. A number of similar events have been held in Chhattisgarh since then.

“After the Congress party and the BJP organized [a hate speech event] in Chhattisgarh, two more Hindu Rashtra seminars were held in Raipur and Bilaspur [cities],” Owaisi said on Twitter. “It was said that India would become a Hindu nation in three years. A baba (Hindu saint) said that the Supreme Court does not detract from his decision.”

Indian authorities have yet to take definitive action against any of the Hindu supremacist leaders who have been organizing anti-Muslim hate speech events across India.