Muslim teachers suspended after Hindu supremacist smear campaign
Students from a school in Rajasthan’s Kota have responded with outrage and protest after three of their Muslim teachers were suspended by the state’s department following a smear campaign by Hindu supremacist groups. The extremists baselessly alleged that the teachers were forcing Hindu students to perform Muslim prayers, forcibly converting them to Islam, and being involved in “love jihad” and other “jihadist activities”.
Hindu and Muslim students alike have demanded that their teachers – Firoz Khan, Mirza Mujahid, and Shabana – be reinstated. They have also called for charges to be brought against the Hindu supremacist groups that forced students to make false accusations against the teachers.
Hindu extremist cow vigilantes seize truck, assault occupants over alleged beef transport
In Hyderabad, Telangana, the Hindu extremist cow vigilante group Gau Raksha Dal joined forces with police officials to seize a truck over allegations of transporting cattle. Hindu extremists from the same cow vigilante group also assaulted a group of men in the capital city of New Delhi over allegations of transporting beef in a private car.
BJP leaders deliver hate speeches in recently Hindu extremist violence-hit area
In Thane, Maharashtra, a politician from the Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), T. Raja Singh, gave a hateful speech that included anti-Muslim slurs, conspiracy theories, and support for violent cow vigilantism. The speech was given on Mira Road, the neighborhood where Hindu extremist mobs violently attacked Muslims last month.
“With our population size, we (Hindus) can do in five minutes what they(Muslims) would take 20 minutes to do,” Geeta Bharat Jain, another BJP lawmaker, threatened at the same event. Another Hindu extremist speaker referred to Muslims as “mosquitoes”.
Anti-Muslim hate saw increase in India amid Israel’s assault on Gaza: US research group
A report by a United States-based research group, India Hate Lab (IHL), has revealed that Israel’s bombardment of Gaza since October 2023 – which has been referred to by the International Court of Justice as a “plausible” case of genocide – played a key role in the increase of hate crimes against Muslims in India.
In total, IHL documented 668 hate speech incidents targeting Muslims in 2023, 413 of which occurred in the second half of the year, amounting to a 62% increase in the second half of 2023 compared to the first six months of the year. 75% of incidents occurred in BJP-ruled states.
