Seven Kashmiri students arrested for argument over India’s World Cup loss
Seven Kashmiri students were arrested under India’s Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), a draconian anti-terror law, for an alleged confrontation over India’s loss to Australia in the men’s Cricket World Cup final. The incident allegedly happened between students at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology.
Kashmiris have long been subjected to wanton arrest and overreaching punishment over similar trivial incidents. In 2021, police booked students and staff of medical colleges who celebrated the Pakistani cricket team’s victory over India in the T20 World Cup match. In 2022, after an India-Pakistan Asia Cup cricket match, a WhatsApp status about Pakistan’s victory landed three Kashmiri students in jail for sedition.
Hindu extremists “purify” temple with holy water after Muslim lawmaker’s visit
Members of Hindu supremacist groups and local elected officials sprinkled water from the Ganga river, which is holy to Hindus, and recited Hindu prayers at a temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharthnagar to “purify” it after a Muslim lawmaker visited the temple.
“She is non-vegetarian and her visit affected the sanctity of the place,” said local village leader Dharmaraj Verma.
Two people detained for protesting anti-Muslim film at film festival
Two individuals from Kerala state were detained at a police station in Goa for an hour for holding signs criticizing the screening of the anti-Muslim propaganda movie “The Kerala Story” at the International Film Festival of India. The individuals, Sreenath and Archana Ravi, were also distributing a factsheet debunking propaganda claims made in the film.
“The Kerala Story” was widely criticized for falsely claiming that 32,000 Hindu women from Kerala state converted to Islam to join ISIS.
World Hindu Congress in Thailand embraces “Hindutva” over “Hinduism”
At the World Hindu Congress (WHC) in Thailand’s capital, Secretary General Dattatreya Hosabale of the Hindu paramilitary group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) urged Hindus to renounce the term “Hinduism” and embrace the term “Hindutva” to refer to the religion.
Delegates from over 60 countries are participating in the three-day congress.
