On Thursday (May 25), a frenzied mob of Islamists attacked a Hindu man for sharing snacks with his Muslim classmate.
As per a report by Times Now, the incident took place at an eatery named Gopika Chaats in the Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka. The group of extremists spotted the duo dining together and confronted them at the food outlet.
Once the mob realised that the man accompanying the Hijab-clad Muslim woman was a Hindu, they began thrashing him publicly. The girl came to the victim’s rescue and tried to placate the mob but to no avail.
Karnataka: A group of Muslim men allegedly harass a woman for an outing with a male friend from the Hindu community in Chikkaballapur
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) May 26, 2023
"The woman confronted them & even approached the police but was later forced by her family to issue an apology," @NehaHebbs reports. pic.twitter.com/kTlXZnssmZ
Despite telling them that she knew the Hindu boy well, the extremists reprimanded the Muslim girl for hanging out with him. According to Times Now, the girl has filed a complaint with the police, following which a case was registered in connection to the case.
The police have initiated a probe into the case and efforts are underway to nab the accused. Meanwhile, the girl was forced to issue an apology by her family.
‘Bhagwa love trap’ conspiracy theory and its aftermath
In recent times, a new menace of Islamist mobs attacking Hindu-Muslim couples has come to light. Multiple videos have surfaced on social media where these extremists are seen harassing, abusing, molesting and physically assaulting Hindu men and Muslim women under the garb of combating ‘Bhagwa Love Trap.’
It is based on a baseless theory about Hindu outfits, supposedly training Hindu youth to lure, and entrap Muslim women and turn them into non-Muslims. Opindia has reported that an Islamic cleric by the name of Sajjad Nomani has been making such outrageous claims since 2021.
The conspiracy theory soon took the form of a social media hashtag, which Islamists used to share videos of random hijab-wearing Muslim women and their male Hindu friends/ acquaintances and partners without their consent.
The posts are often accompanied by emotional messages and sought public help in identifying the couples. Soon after, social media was rife with videos of Islamist mobs ambushing random Hindu-Muslim couples.
This would then be followed by heated arguments, physical assault on the Hindu men, and even molestation of the Muslim women. The victims have been targeted on roads, restaurants, eateries, and even hotels.
Based on local reports and social media videos, OpIndia has compiled a total of 30 cases where Hindu men and Muslim women were attacked by extremists under the pretext of the ‘Bhagwa love trap.’
The attacks were carried out under the pretext that a sinister plot was underway to convert Muslim women to Hinduism by luring them into a love trap – a conspiracy theory espoused by Sajjad Nomani in multiple videos.
