In 2018, Amnesty India’s interactive “Halt the Hate” website documented more than 200 alleged hate crimes against marginalised people, including 87 killings.
About:
Meaning: Hate Crimes means crimes where people are targeted because they belong to a particular group.
Background: Amnesty has been tracking hate crimes since the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, in September 2015. It has documented 721 such incidents since then.
Findings for 2018:
U.P. tops the list for the third straight year.
Of the 218 documented incidents, 142 were against Dalits, 50 against Muslims, and eight each against Christians, adivasis and transgender people. There were 97 incidents of assault and 87 killings reported. Thus, about 65% of the crimes were against Dalits.
Of the 40 incidents of sexual violence, Dalit women were victims in 33 cases.
For the third straight year, Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of reported crimes, with 57 such incidents. Gujarat, with 22 incidents, and Rajasthan, with 18 such cases, came next on the list.
Recommendations:
The first step to ensuring justice and ending impunity for hate crimes is to highlight their occurrence.
Legal reforms that enable recording of hate crimes and strengthen accountability must be a priority for governments.
Comment: The data provided on their website is only a snapshot of alleged hate crimes in India, and is not comprehensive by any means as many incidents are not reported to the police or reported by the media.
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