Mosque, madrasa attacked during Hindu procession in India
Stones hit Muslim places of worship and learning during Ganesh procession in Karnataka, prompting Muslims to demand immediate arrests
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — A mosque and an Islamic seminary were attacked with stones as a Hindu religious procession passed through a town in southern India, in the latest incident involving Muslim religious sites during Hindu festival processions that have increasingly become flashpoints for anti-Muslim hostility and violence across the country.
Stones were allegedly hurled at Ismail Sunni Jamiya Mosque and Tajus-Sunna Arabic Madrasa in Bhatkal, Karnataka, on Wednesday night as a procession carrying an idol of Hindu deity Ganesh for immersion moved along Gulmi Railway Station Road. Two windowpanes were damaged.
Local Muslim resident Abdul Alim filed a complaint with Bhatkal Town Police Station demanding action against those responsible. Muslims later gathered outside the station and demanded immediate arrests.
Uttara Kannada Superintendent of Police Deepan MN visited the mosque and met residents following the incident. Police assured the gathering that those responsible would be identified and prosecuted, after which protesters dispersed.
Investigators are examining CCTV footage and other evidence to establish who threw the stones. Additional police personnel have also been deployed in Bhatkal.
Attack comes against a wider pattern in India in which Hindu religious processions have become recurring sites of confrontation and anti-Muslim violence, particularly when processions enter Muslim neighborhoods or pass mosques.
Human Rights Watch has previously documented Hindu festival processions in several Indian states in which participants carried weapons, shouted anti-Muslim slogans or attacked Muslim homes, businesses and religious sites.
Bhatkal itself has previously witnessed inflammatory rhetoric targeting Muslim religious sites.
In 2024, police registered a case against then-Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker Anantkumar Hegde after he reportedly said Chinnada Palli mosque in Bhatkal would be demolished like Babri Mosque, which was destroyed by a Hindu extremist mob in 1992.
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