On Monday, an association of civil society organisations UAID released the hate crime report for the period of June 2024 to June 2025 which marked the first year of Modi government’s third term.
India recorded 602 hate crimes and 345 hate speech incidents in the first year of the Modi government’s third term, revealed the hate crime report released by United Against Injustice and Discrimination (UAID). A similar report by Citizens for Peace and Justice (CJP) revealed that 180 cases of targeted violence against Indian Muslims were reported in two months after the Pahalgam terrorist attack.
On Monday, an association of civil society organisations UAID released the hate crime report for the period of June 2024 to June 2025 which marked the first year of Modi government’s third term. According to the report, 602 hate crime incidents occurred in the country’s 23 states and two union territories. While Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 162 incidents, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra followed with 68 and 60 incidents respectively. These hate crimes also resulted in the death of 29 Muslims including one woman.
The hate crime report claimed that 267, out of the 602 incidents, involved right-wing outfits, whereas offences were registered in only 81 cases, which is 13% of the hate crimes. It said that 398 of these crimes were of harassment or intimidation of religious minorities, out of which 214 incidents involved organisations and political parties. This was followed by 173 cases of physical violence, out of which visible religiosity of religious minorities was the reason in 119 cases (60.1%), non-vegetarian food was the reason in 32 cases (8.5%) and inter-community relationships accounted for 17 incidents (6.7%). Other reasons included religious conversion, religious processions and hurting religious sentiments.
The report highlighted that although the activities of right-wing outfits in May died within a few days, Uttarakhand is emerging as a hotspot for hate crimes after the sexual assault of a minor girl in Nainital involving a Muslim accused and the Sanjauli Mosque being labelled as a disputed place of worship.
At a press conference organised to release the report on Monday, Frazer Mascarenhas, priest and activist, raised concerns against the BJP MLA Gopichand Padalkar from Sangli’s Jat constituency, who allegedly remarked that he would give cash prize to those who thrash people visiting villages for conversion. He said, “The chain of hate crimes starts from allegations against certain communities, followed by hate speech and then ultimately results in violence. A government’s basic function is to protect the right to life and if it is not able to do the bare minimum, we really do not need a government.”
Similarly, 345 incidents of hate speech were recorded by the hate crime report, out of which 109 were made by a member of a political party or an affiliated outfit. It claimed that 11 states ruled by the BJP recorded these incidents, including 55 from UP and 41 in both Maharashtra and Jharkhand. It claimed that 212 of these incidents fulfilled all requirements of inciting discrimination, hostility or violence.
This even included five speeches by the prime minister, 63 by BJP chief ministers and 71 other elected representatives. According to the report, 288 of the 345 hate speech incidents were made in public gatherings, seven were made during parliament or assembly sessions, 23 online and 27 in press conferences or interviews. While four Shiv Sena members, one Congress and one Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) members were accused of giving hate speeches, non-political organisations accused of hate speech included Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and other right-wing Hindu outfits.
Irfan Engineer, director of Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, shared the statistics from his organisation’s annual record, which claimed that the hate crimes increased by 270% from 33 cases in 2023 to 122 cases in 2024, 38% from Maharashtra alone. He said that while the reasons can range from parliamentary elections to assembly elections in states like Maharashtra and Haryana, Muslims were the targets in 96% of these cases.
