The Association for the Protection of Civil Rights launched a website on Wednesday to track hate crimes in India.
At the event, Opposition MPs rued that senior ruling party politicians have made hate speech seem normal and questioned the legitimacy of elections.
The website apcrhct.org has a detailed form to report hate crimes. The site’s administrators use the UN-backed Rabat Plan of Action that establishes a high-threshold six-part test to distinguish illegal hate speech from protected freedom of expression.
During the launch at the Constitution Club of India, AAP Rajya Sabha leader Sanjay Singh said: “The data that we have in Parliament about hate crimes and riots is provided by the home minister. It is many times more than this…. But they do it cleverly. They don’t show it…. They show it in the form of riots. They don’t show it in the form of violence.
“How much do hate crimes increase from the speeches of the Prime Minister? How much hate crimes increase from the speeches of chief ministers?...
“Our Prime Minister says that we can identify by looking at the clothes. This means that he can identify who is a Hindu, who is a Muslim, and he speaks about this in the Jharkhand elections…. Now there is a CM of Assam, he says that stop buying things from Muslims. They will break their back financially.”
RJD MP Manoj Jha said: “I say, when you have a choice between whether to win elections or win the country, then winning the country will be the choice. What do people want? That elections should be conducted like this? For example, there are two parties in Israel, but it is difficult to differentiate between the two parties, Likud and Labour. Here too a similar effort is afoot, whether it is through delimitation, or Mr Gyanesh Kumar’s proxy, efforts are being made across the country.”
He added: “Only if there is a flood of people on the streets and Opposition parties give in to the pressure from the streets and refuse to fight elections — there will be a possibility (for change). Otherwise, you may have to increase the capacity of your (hate tracker) website.”
The APCR has compiled 3,576 religion-based hate incidents across India since 2014. Preliminary analysis indicates that physical assault (747 incidents) and attacks on property (376) are among the most commonly reported forms of violence. Frequently cited triggers include visible religious identity (908), the sale or consumption of non-vegetarian food (547) and the celebration of festivals (166).
The database currently includes detailed records from 2024 to 2026 (to date), documenting 1,153 hate crimes and 761 hate speech incidents, Fawaz Shaheen of APCR said.
