On May 4, a Dalit man was beaten and stabbed to death by a group of individuals in Hyderabad, Telangana.
According to a local news agency, The News Minute, the attack was due to the victim marrying a Muslim woman against their family's wishes. The victim, 26-year-old Billipuram Nagaraju, died due to the blunt attacks, The News Minute reported.
In Punjab, India, a university professor was fired over an alleged offensive comment regarding the Hindu god Ram. In an Instagram post published by the university on April 23, the professor was terminated “effective immediately.”
Gursang Preet Kaur is an assistant professor at the Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar, northern Punjab. Kaur allegedly referred to Ram as a “cunning person,” putting the Hindu god in a bad light.
This year's celebration of the Ram Navami festival was marred by violence and death across multiple states. Ram Navabi is an important Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Ram, the seventh avatar of Vishnu.
The Taliban has ordered government officials to wear a beard and adhere to dress codes, as provided by their hardline interpretation of Islam. On Monday, March 28, representatives of the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice visited government offices, enforcing the new order.
On March 29, a stadium in Iran barred women from getting in during a game. Security guards of the Imam Reza Stadium in Mashhad, Iran, denied women who paid for their tickets access to the stadium.
Muslims are banned from setting up temporary shops during a biennial Hindu festival. Organizers of the Kote Marikamba Jatra, a celebration held every two years in Shivamogga, Karnataka, have blocked Muslim vendors from setting up stalls.
Kote Marikamba Jatra is a fair festival held every other year in February or March. The center of the festivities is the Marikamba Temple, a temple dedicated to the Hindu goddess Marikamba Devi.
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) cases are increasing in Somaliland, a de facto African state that struggles for international recognition. Pandemic lockdowns fuel the increase in FGM cases. Government officials, health workers, and advocates say FGM cases are soaring since the lockdown made girls accessible to “cutters.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has recalled the ambassador to the United Kingdom over a controversial video of a ceremony hosted by the embassy. Mohsen Baharvand, Tehran’s ambassador to London, hosted the 43rd anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, allowing unveiled women in attendance.
