Hindu-hate cases rise in California, but top official skips mention in statement

Incidents of anti-Hindu bias in California have risen for the fourth consecutive year, according to the Annual Hate Crimes Report presented by the California Department of Justice (DOJ) this week. However, the statement issued by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, which was also part of the 80-page report, skipped any mention of "Hindu-hate" incidents, and came in for criticism from The Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA), an advocacy group.

The latest report shows anti-Hindu crimes increased from seven in 2023 to 10 in 2024, prompting concern from the Hindu American community. CoHNA said many such cases go underreported due to fear within the Hindu community, who are mostly first or second-generation immigrants to the US.

The advocacy group also mentioned that no arrests or prosecutions have been made for the 2023 vandalism attacks on Hindu temples in Newark and Hayward, California.

CoHNA issued a sharp rebuke of the California Attorney General, calling his public response to the report "tone-deaf" for failing to mention Hindus among the communities impacted by hate.

"Anti-Hindu incidents continued to rise for the 4th straight year. This comes as no surprise to us – we have seen this manifest in the vandalisation attacks on Hindu temples – 4 in 14 months in California," the advocacy group said in a statement.

"The attacks have ranged from small temples run by a family from Fiji to the largest temple in the state – BAPS Chino Hills (Shri Swaminarayan Mandir)! And the attacks on Hindu individuals – both physical and online," the statement added.

In March, the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in California's Chino Hills was defaced with anti-India graffiti, less than five months after a similar incident was reported at another Hindu temple in the US state.

India's External Affairs Ministry also commended the incident and called upon "local law enforcement authorities to take stringent action against those responsible for these acts, and also ensure adequate security to places of worship".

Notably, other states of the US have witnessed attacks on temples recently.

In June, a total of around 20-30 gunshots were fired at the Shri Shri Radha Krishna Temple in Utah's Spanish Fork city. The attack was the third on the temple in the same month. The temple management called it a hate crime.

MANY ANTI-HINDU CASES GO UNDERREPORTED: CoHNA

Coming from a large immigrant community, CoHNA stressed that the reported numbers likely underestimate the true scope of the problem.

"Coming from an immigrant-heavy community, the institutions know that these numbers they are tracking are just an indication of the problem, due to widespread under-reporting, driven by fear and lack of knowledge and the privilege of access," the statement read.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta's statement on hate crimes drew concern over the lack of Hindu mention.

"Yet in an astonishingly tone-deaf response, California Attorney General Rob Bonta released a statement that did not even mention the Hindu community as one of the communities that is 'hurting'. What will it take for our law enforcement officials and lawmakers to acknowledge the unjust treatment being meted out to Hindus?" it added.

"Throughout California's history, too many of us have felt the sting of hate and discrimination. Too many Asian, Latino, Black, Native American, people with disabilities, LGBTQ, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh Californians all across the state are hurting. It's going to take all of us working together to take on bias and hate and their toxic effects on our society," the Attorney General was quoted as saying in the above-mentioned report.

NO ARREST OR PROSECUTION IN 2023 TEMPLE ATTACK CASE: CoHNA

The advocacy group also expressed concern that no arrests were made in the 2023 temple vandalisation case.

"Here, it is important to point out that 18 months after the Hindu temples in Newark and Hayward were vandalised, no arrests or prosecutions have been made," the group said.

A Hindu temple was defaced with pro-Khalistani slogans in California's Newark city in December 2023.

The Vijay's Sherawali Temple in Hayward, California was attacked with anti-India graffiti in the same month in 2023, according to another advocacy group, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF).

Pictures shared online by the HAF showed the temple board defaced with slogans supporting Khalistan and abusing Indian leaders.

According to the 80-page report, the Department of Justice's responsibility is to collect and review the actual incident reports to determine if the incident was identified and reported correctly.

The report also reveals that overall reported hate crime offences in California increased by 8.9%, from 2,359 in 2023 to 2,568 in 2024. Meanwhile, anti-Asian bias events actually decreased slightly, from 125 in 2023 to 119 in 2024.

Reported hate crime events, involving a religion bias, has also increased from 3% from 394 in 2023 to 406 in 2004.

"Over the last 10 years, reported hate crime events have increased by 141.7%," the report stated.

According to the report, anti-Asian crime has seen a drop in the reported cases.

Anti-Asian bias events fell from 125 in 2023 to 119 in 2024, a decrease of 4.8%.

The report also mentioned that four anti-Sikh crimes were also reported in 2024, while five such cases were reported in 2023.

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