By Abdulla Gaafarelkhalifa

On January 13, a couple involving an adult male and an adult female, after being charged with adultery in the Aceh province of Indonesia, were punished with public lashings.

The man, who refused to confess to the accusation, received 15 lashes, while the woman, who did confess, received an overwhelming 100. The amount of lashes was so excruciating that she needed a break at one point before continuing on.

By Abdulla Gaafarelkhalifa

On December 23, 2021, during the winter assembly of the legislative body of the state of Karnataka, India, the controversial Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill 2021 was successfully passed. The bill explains that “No person shall convert or attempt to convert either directly or otherwise any other person from one religion to another by use of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage, nor shall any person abet or conspire for conversions”.

On Monday, December 6, a mob of Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) members, two notoriously militant right-wing Hindu groups, attacked St. Joseph’s School in Ganj Basoda, India. The incident happened around 12:10 at noon when more than 300 protesters started gathering outside the school’s compound.

The attack happened while the school was administering exams for their grade 12 students.

On Friday, December 3, a violent mob attacked, killed, and burned the body of Priyantha Kumara, a Sri Lankan working as a manager in Pakistan. Police said Kumara was accused of committing blasphemous acts against the Prophet Muhammad. The incident happened in the Sialkot district in Punjab, Pakistan.

On Monday, November 15, a group of right-wing Hindus set fire to Salman Khurshid’s house in Satkhol Village, near the Nainital district in the Uttarakhand state. In October, Khurshid, the former Foreign Minister of India, published a book where he compares extremist Hindutva groups to Islamist groups like ISIS and Boko Haram.