New Delhi: As many as 184 hate crime cases have been reported from across the country since horrendous Pahalagam massacre, according to a report.
The Association of Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) in its report said that there were 84 cases of hate speech, 39 assaults, 19 instances of vandalism, and three murders targeted against Indian Muslims, and Kashmiris, The Siasat Daily reported.
The report also expands on incidents of lynching, social and economic boycott, intimidation, harassment, and calls for sexual violence.
The states ruled by the BJP recorded highest number of hate crimes with Uttar Pradesh reporting 43 cases, followed by Maharashtra (24) and Madhya Pradesh (20), according to the APCR report.
Hindutva outfits involved in the hate crimes include the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal, Sakal Hindu Samaj, Hindu Raksha Dal, among others.
BJP workers including senior leaders alongside some cabinet members have involved in different hate crimes.
The most disturbing incident was reported from Uttar Pradesh’s Jhinjhana village of Shamli district where a Muslim man was attacked with an axe in front of his child. Villagers claimed that the attacker kept saying he would kill 26 in revenge for 26, referring to Pahalgam massacre.
In another incident, members of the Kshatriya Gau Raksha Dal reportedly killed a Muslim man and injured his cousin in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra district avenging the Pahalgam attack.
A Hindu mob in Jharkhand lynched a Muslim man, according to the report.
Right-wing supporters in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh city forced a teenager to urinate on a Pakistani flag after a friend of his allegedly tore down an anti-Pakistani poster.
The uniform of a Government Railway Police (GRP) officer, Nazar Daulat Khan was torn in Madhya Pradesh.
A group of people attacked a local journalist and his brother in Bihar for wearing a kurta pyjama.
A poster carrying the message ‘Dogs and Muslims not allowed. All eyes on Pahalgam. Terrorism means Islam’ was found tacked to the entrance notice board of the Faculty of Agriculture of Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV), the country’s leading agricultural university in West Bengal.