Communalism
Families now file FIRs to stop these relationships, often with sanction from police and state authorities.
The scourge of so-called honour killings that swept states such as Haryana, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu over inter-caste marriages through the 2000s has taken on a new, intolerant avatar—Hindu-Muslim marriages. Except now, it isn’t killing but the weaponisation of laws. Across India, inter-religious, inter-caste, and queer-identifying couples have faced rape, POCSO, kidnapping, and even theft charges as a means to stop their relationships—often with sanction from police and state authorities.
“Criminal law is used to criminalise adolescent sexuality,” said lawyer and researcher Neetika Vishwanath.
Research, news reports, and court records reveal a clear pattern: when couples cross caste or religion boundaries to find love or elope, their own families often file criminal complaints. Consensual partners become kidnappers and rapists. And laws meant to protect women are being subverted to target them.
by Sabah Gurmat
04/06/2025
How hate and communalism have returned to haunt coastal Karnataka https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDzc2TOk9W8 | Let Me Explain
newslaundry In just a month, the city has witnessed a lynching, two murders, and multiple stabbings. Ashraf. Suhas Shetty. And now, Abdul Rahiman. Each of these incidents have further deepened divides.
Social media is being used to amplify the unrest. Exaggerated claims and outright fabrications are spreading fast, fuelling anger and suspicion. Mainstream media isn’t far behind. Much of the coverage has been provocative and one-sided.
Hindutva activists claim Muslim cop aided Suhas Shetty killers, police launch probe https://www.thenewsminute.com/karnataka/hindutva-activists-claim-muslim-cop-aided-suhas-shetty-killers-police-launch-probe A Muslim police constable in Mangaluru has filed a complaint at the very police station where he works, alleging that he is a victim of misinformation and communal hatred. The complaint comes amid a spike in communal tensions in the polarised coastal city after two back-to-back murders. ..A migrant worker named Ashraf was lynched by a mob on April 27. Three days later, on May 1, a rowdy-sheeter named Suhas Shetty was stabbed to death.
https://organiser.org/2025/05/06/290517/bharat/karnataka-suhas-shetty-murder-case-takes-explosive-turn-allegations-surface-against-islamist-local-police-officer/
https://thewire.in/communalism/a-decade-after-akhlaqs-lynching-uttar-pradesh-govt-moves-to-drop-all-charges-against-accused Among the accused is Vishal Rana, son of local Dadri BJP leader Sanjay Rana. Akhlaq’s lynching triggered nationwide debate on mob violence, intolerance, and beef eating, sparking polarised responses across the political and social spectrum. Several citizen groups organised “Not In My Name” marches and political activists and scholars underlined that it indicated weakening of secular and democratic values in the country.
It eventually became a grim precedent for a series of similar attacks across northern India during the Modi decade, as self-styled “gau rakshaks” targeted Muslim men on allegations of cow slaughter or cattle transport in the name of cow protection.
: A fact-finding mission to Murshidabad in Bengal – the scene of recent clashes that led to the death of three people – has found that the violence there was not just a communal clash or a law and order issue, but a “deeply organised, politically driven situation, where religious polarisation, state inaction, and police repression have combined to disturb years of peaceful coexistence.”
On April 18 and 19, a 17-member fact-finding team comprising Feminists in Resistance (FIR), Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), Nari Chetna, Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP), and Gono Songram Moncho (Murshidabad) visited several areas around the Shamsherganj block in Murshidabad.
The team, in a press release containing the highlights of the report which is yet to be released in full, recorded what it gleaned after it spoke with victims, eyewitnesses, residents of nearby areas, and representatives from the police and administration.
29/04/2025
Right-wing social media users claim these eateries were falsely using “Hindu names”, but a state minister has said their licenses were revoked for failing to meet hygiene standards. Meanwhile, online harassment and targeting continues. https://thewire.in/communalism/gujarat-muslim-owned-dhabas-gsrtc-license
What ensued was a campaign where several rightwing social-media users, and news outlets including Times Now and Zee News Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh, carried reports of Muslims falsely “using Hindu names” to run their hotels, and the cancellation of their licenses owing to the same.
Meanwhile, Gujarat’s minister of transport, Harsh Sanghvi, issued a clarification on X claiming that these hotels’ licences were cancelled owing to hygiene and safety standards.
“GSRTC has permanently stopped buses at 27 hotels due to dirt and unhygienic conditions!
This step has been taken for the convenience and hygiene of our passengers. We have instructed our department to monitor all other bus stops and hotels so that they follow the rules and provide the best services to the passengers,” Sanghvi tweeted.
by Sabah Gurmat
17/02/2025
- 'Surprised,' Say Berhampur Locals as Odisha College Expels 7 Students After Bajrang Dal's 'Beef' Complaint
- Maharashtra: How Hindutva Forces Communalised Syncretic Kanobha Dargah in Ahmadnagar
- Hapur Mob Lynching Conviction: Court Finds UP Police Guilty of Negligence in Investigation
- Naf Rath in Maharashtra: End of Reason?
- The Hindu Card How the Congress legitimised the Sangh’s communal politics
Subcategories
Hate Crime
Hate Speech / Incitement to violence
Hate Speech Maharashtra
PUCL Maharashtra has decided to showcase information on Hate Speech in Maharashtra as presented in the different websites, social media of Civil Society organisations and concerned individuals. Each one has their own style of documentation and each one is a shining node. We hope to have a decentralised platform which will valorise whatever work individuals an organisations are doing, such that while they do their regular work of posting, creating websites, blogs, data directories, such that it can be searched, and researched, and help activist (information activist, if you will) curate this content into learning modules, state of the art reports.. letting a thousand nodes glow.
250811-Jalgaon-lynching of Pathan after being seen with Hindu woman at cafe
A 21-year-old Muslim man was on Monday beaten to death allegedly by members of a Hindutva group in the town of Jamner in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district. The perpetrators allegedly assaulted Suleman Rahim Khan Pathan after he was seen with a Hindu woman from the same village at a cafe
250114-Yavatmal
Two Muslim-owned restaurants in Wani, Yavatmal, were forcibly shut down by members of the Bajrang Dal
2501XX-Mumbai-Kurla
At the “Samrast Yatra” event in Kurla, Mumbai, organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, a Jain monk disseminated hate speech rife with anti-Muslim propaganda.
250200-Rane
Rane’s speeches continued throughout the month of February, spreading more hateful conspiracy theories, and even suggesting that if Muslims “looked at Hindus in an incorrect manner,” they would face consequences. He stated that, “Our government is very bad. What is going on around I am aware of everything. You don’t have to struggle. Wherever something wrong is happening, wherever someone tries to slaughter a cow, wherever someone tries to smuggle, wherever green snakes try to wriggle, just make one call, and leave the rest of the arrangements to me., https://cjp.org.in/the-role-of-leaders-in-spreading-divisive-rhetoric/