Much like the year 2021, which witnessed a series of instances of Islamophobia, the beginning of this year seemed no different. With just one month gone by, the atrocities against Muslims, and harassment (sexual and otherwise) seems to be mounting.
Keeping the same in mind, Siasat.com has compiled a list of the hate crimes which garnered some attention from the media in the month of January.
January 1: Using the ‘Bulli Bai’ app Muslim women were harassed and ‘auctioned off’ once again after Sulli deals app. ‘Bulli Bai’, an app handled by Neeraj Bishnoi and a few others targetted Muslim women and shared their pictures over the platform, Git-Hub, as ‘deals of the day’, to be sold in an auction. The first app was Sulli Deals, where Muslim women including activists and journalists’ pictures were posted for an auction. While there was no real auction, the harassment meted out to the women garnered significant attention and outrage.
Neeraj Bishnoi (20), who is said to be the main conspirator and creator of the ‘Bulli Bai’ on GitHub and the main Twitter account holder of the app, has shown no remorse for his actions, NDTV reported.
January 2: Muslim Couple allegedly tortured in Police Custody in Jharkhand’s Bokaro for no reason.
The Quint reported that a Muslim couple was allegedly physically tortured in police custody in Jharkhand’s Bokaro city over suspicions of theft.
Amanat Hussain a 47-year-old teacher alleged that his toenails were painfully pulled out after he and his wife were brutally beaten up at the Balidih police station.
Speaking on the incident, Hussain said that on 30 December, he along with his wife and elder brother went to the police station after he received a summons. Thereafter, he was locked up and interrogated.
January 3: Yati Narsinghanand’s hate speech against Muslim women
In a video on Twitter, priest Yati Narsinghanand and others are seen saying that aside from the Hindi film industry, Muslims have occupied all sectors including the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Hindu(tva) group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Discussing Muslim women, he says that they were the major strength of the community as they are being used as sexual objects to spread the power of Islam. He goes on to say that Muslim women are made to sleep with journalists, politicians, and higher-up officials to turn them against the majority.
January 8: Jharkhand BJP workers beat up a Muslim man, force him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
In Ranchi, a Muslim man was allegedly thrashed, forced to lick his own spit, and chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ by BJP workers at Dhanbad. The man allegedly abused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the party’s Jharkhand president on Friday. Chief Minister Hemant Soren has asked officials to investigate the matter and take stern action against the guilty.
The incident took place during a protest by BJP near the Gandhi statue in Dhanbad against the security lapse during Modi’s Punjab visit. The man, reportedly a Muslim, was a passerby and had allegedly abused the prime minister and BJP Jharkhand president Deepak Prakash.
January 9: In Himachal Pradesh, few Hindutva members broke the religious cemetery and posted a video of it by editing a Hindu religious song in the video’s background.
January 9: In yet another incident of hate crime in Kolar, Karnataka, a Muslim man and his family were attacked by Hindu Youth on Saturday while returning from the Usman Shah Dargah.
January 18: A Muslim boy and a non-Muslim girl were travelling in a train from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh and a few Hindu organizations reached there and violently attacked the boy. They took him to the police station and upon investigation, the police said that both the boy and the girl were married.
January 18: Goons of the Hindutva outfit, Hindu Jagran Manch, have destroyed another shrine in Himachal Pradesh, videos of which were widely shared on social media platforms by the members of the outfit.
January 18: Two Muslim youths Sameer (19) and Shamseer (21) from Nargund in Karnataka’s Gadag district were brutally attacked by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) members on Monday evening. 19-year-old Sameer succumbed to injuries on Tuesday morning at Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) hospital in Hubli. Shamseer is still in critical condition.
January 19: Delhi Police on Wednesday wrote to the Clubhouse app seeking details of the organizer of a discussion where offensive remarks were made against Muslim women. Delhi Police’s Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations unit which works under the supervision of Special Cell filed an FIR against the unknown persons in the matter.
January 21: A video was uploaded on a page named ‘Rashtriya Hindu Sangathan’ on Facebook, in which some people are seen repeating the issue of killing ‘Mulle-Qazi’ in the park in the morning.
January 21: Another video of people taking the oath of Hindu Rashtra has been shared on Facebook by a person named Brijesh Singh. It is being told in the video that ‘Hindu Suraksha Sena’ in Chhattisgarh has taken a pledge to make India a Hindu nation by taking fire as a witness.
January 21: A Hindutva group in Karnataka’s Kolar district barged into a government school as Muslim students were offering namaz within school premises on Friday, January 21. The members of the group questioned the school authorities and filed a police complaint in the matter.
The students told the media that the headmistress has allowed them to pray within the premises of Mulbagal Someshwara Palaya Bale Changappa Government Kannada Model Higher Primary School.
January 21: Mumbai police have arrested three people from Haryana in connection with a chat on the Clubhouse app where derogatory and abusive remarks were made against Muslim women.
January 23: A man in Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa district has been charged for allegedly setting three houses – two belonging to Muslim men and one Hindu family – on fire and vandalising a temple on the same day.
On January 5, the accused Bunty Upadhyaya, allegedly under the influence of alcohol, attacked Shaukat Ali. He was arrested by the police and sent to jail.
January 25: A video of another tomb being demolished in Himachal Pradesh has been uploaded on Facebook.
January 30: A Muslim man Saifuddin was abused and assaulted by some people in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh. His crime was that he had urinated in front of the cow. After registering a case against one of the accused Virendra, the police arrested him after the video went viral.
January 30: A Sant Sammelan (Seers gathering) was organised in Prayagraj, in which the assembled saints have once again given controversial statements. Deoband and Bareilly Sharif, one of the largest madrassas of Muslims, have been seen talking about demanding closure.
The above list is not exhaustive.
(Compiled by Marziya Sharif)
