Akram and Saud slaughtered a cow and threw its head on road at night. Local Hindus were obviously incensed
But unlike Nagpur, no mob violence, no attack on homes and vehicles, no arson. Instead, Hindus enforced social boycott of accused families
What I found in ground visit🧵
In January, at Mathania market chowk in Jodhpur, carcass of a calf was found early morning. Hindus in the area gathered and staged a protest
FIR 4/25 was filed at Mathania police station same day. CCTV footage revealed the killers as 20-year-old Saud (son of Yunus) and 28-year-old Akram (son of Abdul Lateef), both locals of nearby Tinwari area
They were arrested under Rajasthan’s anti-cow slaughter law. Police released a press note the next day
Mar 21 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
The woman I am standing with is one of the bravest I know.
Chanchal Chaudhary relentlessly pursued the case of her missing friend Priya - until it was revealed that Priya’s boyfriend Mohd Shamshad had killed her and buried her body inside his house.
This case became instrumental in Yogi govt bringing anti-conversion law criminalising marriage by hiding identity in Nov 2020. CM Yogi Adityanath cited this case in multiple interviews regarding the law.
Priya lived as a tenant in Chanchal’s house. She had separated from her husband and was living with her 13-year-old daughter Kashish.
Priya began an affair with a man she met on Facebook - who introduced himself as ‘Amit Gujjar.’ He later turned out to be Mohd Shamshad, a married man. Chanchal didn’t approve of the relationship but Priya was adamant on marrying Shamshad.
When Priya and Kashish went missing during the first lockdown in March 2020, only Chanchal looked for them. She filed multiple police complaints, followed up relentlessly, and didn’t let the case die.
In July, the truth came out- both mother and daughter were murdered and buried inside Shamshad’s bedroom.
Chanchal is complainant in the case. That means endless trips to court, paying lawyers, and facing security threats. But she has braved it all.
When I met Chanchal, I told her - you are like my younger sister. If you ever need help, don’t hesitate.
Last week, she reached out. In tears. Her father is hospitalised with a heart condition. Chanchal, being the only child, spent all her meagre savings in just three days of treatment. She shared how the pending court case has affected her chances of getting a job all along.
We at @sewanyaya are now bearing the cost of her father’s treatment.
God gave us an opportunity to stand by this brave girl and we won’t let her walk alone.
To support:
From Sambhal, a team of primary class kids from govt schools competed against 35 college BTech teams in Robotics at the prestigious IIT Delhi yesterday and won the top 4 position!
Made entirely possible through training by @sewanyaya
Read on!
At a robotics competition organised as part of IIT Delhi’s annual techfest TRYST-2025, this team of kids from Sambhal were youngest participants in the contest
While they are from Class 5 and 7, they competed against teams from engineering colleges. Secured an incredible 4th place finish. They had to perform blindfolded.
A remarkable win for govt school students from one of UP’s most backward districts
Mar 8 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
I am in Jodhpur and what I see truly breaks my heart
These families - Hindus from Pakistan - arrived in Bharat two weeks ago. They have no money, no food, no work, and now they are being evicted from this patch of land, saying it’s disputed, with no alternative given
As you can see, even this land is sandy, unlivable with no water source. Refugees are literally sleeping on sand
Read on
A police vehicle is stationed to prevent them from bringing wooden logs to set up temporary shelters. Police say the land is disputed between Jodhpur development authority and a resident named Atiq Ahmed
See the footage
Mar 5 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
This ordinary yellow house, located in a migrant labour colony, has been a conversion factory for 10 years
Luring Hindus through exorcism, promising ‘treatment’ through miracles. Even kids in the area know it as a house where “bhoot-pret” are removed
A ground report 🧵
It’s Shankar Nagar, Partapur area, Meerut.
A family - Vineet, Johny, Payal, Sangita, and Gita - turned their house into a ‘masihi prarthana ghar’. For 10 years, Hindus were lured with promises of ‘miracle healing,’ told that Masih’s divine power could even raise the dead
Locals were told illnesses were caused by ‘dusht aatma’ (evil spirits) and could only be cured through Masih who is parmeshwar. Regular attendees were required to bring at least 2-3 new families. Marriage alliances with converted families were facilitated
Mar 4 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
A long but very important day
After we sought Human Rights Commission intervention, NHRC member Priyank Kanoongo today addressed Dalit families in Meerut about a critical issue - converting out of Hindu, Buddhist or Sikh fold means losing SC benefits. I was there
A thread 🧵:
Why this colony? Because a major illegal conversion racket was busted in this Shankar Nagar colony in Partapur area
A house was converted into an unauthorised religious centre where Hindus families were lured into conversion through miracle healings and exorcism. They were told illnesses were due to “evil spirits” and only praying to Masih could cure them
Vineet pastor, Johny pastor, Geeta, Payal and Sangita were booked, but some are out on bail
Watch this video of police raid:
Mar 2 • 10 tweets • 6 min read
How did 3 houses in a row in an upmarket all-Hindu residential colony quietly turned into a religious centre, gathering hundreds of Hindus every Sunday for conversion, without anyone raising voice for 7 years?
I visited the colony in Lucknow today to find out. A thread 🧵
Exactly three weeks ago, on 9 Feb, a Yeshu Prarthana Sabha with 200+ Hindus in attendance was raided in Bharwara Estate Colony, Gomti Nagar Extension.
Hindu activists, acting on a tip-off from a resident, reached the spot at 10 am. Police were called.
What they found: An unofficial ‘church’ operating inside three converted houses, built over a seven-year period.
Here are videos and pictures of protest that day. Children can also be seen coming out of the Sabha after raid
Feb 22 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Glad to share the news that in a disturbing case of forced conversion and circumcision of a 3-year-old Jain boy, accused Iliyas Qureshi and Mohd Zafar Ali have been sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment
A thread on what this case was all about 🧵
-Mahesh Nahata, a native of Barmer, Rajasthan, married Prarthana from Shajapur, Madhya Pradesh, in 2014
-In 2015, they had a son, whom they lovingly named Manan (picture attached)
-But Prarthana eloped with her former lover from her school days, Iliyas Qureshi, taking three-year-old Manan along.
Dec 16, 2024 • 10 tweets • 5 min read
This week, I visited a colony in Ghaziabad where a conversion racket was being run in an all-Hindu area by a teacher from a local well-known missionary school with help of a government employee
Here’s what I found 🧵
The colony, Sewa Nagar, is home to 2,000 people from castes like Pal (gadaria), Valmiki, Jatav and Brahmin
There is a house called ‘Om Niwas’ owned by late Jagpal Singh Jatav. On ground floor lives his younger son Akash while on first floor lives his elder son Ravi
Ravi, a govt employee, converted to Christianity 2 years ago
Dec 9, 2024 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Another mass conversion racket busted in Meerut, West UP
If you recall, I reported on a similar incident from Meerut recently, followed by a yajna to bring families back to Sanatana fold
Latest one had been allegedly operational for 10 years
A thread on what was uncovered🧵
Raid took place in Shankar Colony, Partapur area
On receiving a tip-off, activists and police entered a home and found its second floor converted into a fully functional church called ‘Masihi Prarthana Church’
Over 50 men and women were attending a Bible-reading session
Dec 6, 2024 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Exactly 32 years ago, on 6 Dec 1992, a dhancha built during Babur’s invasion over a site widely believed to be Shri Ram’s birthplace was brought down with bare hands by thousands of karsevaks in Ayodhya
What really unfolded that day as seen through a core karsevak’s eyes? A 🧵
That day, karsevaks dismantled the dhancha (structure) using their hands and simple tools. In Ayodhya, locals and Sangh members dislike calling it ‘Babri’ or ‘mosque’ and refer to it simply as dhancha
Once the structure fell, chaos ensued. Some even lost their lives. Many were injured
By next morning, karsevaks started clearing the debris
A message was sent out to treat every rock and brick as prasad. Some broke bricks to share, others took mud. Within two hours, the site was cleared
By evening, the site was leveled. Then, a temporary temple was built with a cement platform, bamboo sticks and cloth. Ram Lalla was enshrined there
And it is at this very spot where he sits even today
Dec 1, 2024 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
14 Hindus were burnt alive in a mill very near to Sambhal’s disputed mosque in 1978
Rumours of a Hindu killing an imam and a sadhu performing puja there triggered this massacre
I spoke to the family of the mill owner, who was also killed
A thread on this forgotten tragedy 🧵
The mill, an ahaata spread over 4 beegha in Nakhasa Bazaar, belonged to Banwari Lal Goel, an affluent, well-respected man in Sambhal
He was known for his fairness and even Muslim families sought his help to resolve disputes, locals recall. He was also Sambhal president of VHP
Nov 30, 2024 • 8 tweets • 5 min read
Those wondering if Hindus of #Sambhal have made no efforts to sustain their claim on the disputed mosque site which they have always known as Shri Hari Har Mandir, well they did
But it stopped after a 1978 pogrom, where 23 of 25 officially recorded dead were Hindus
A thread 🧵 1. Sambhal has witnessed recurring communal violence, major ones being 1935, 1947 partition, and the horrific 1978 pogrom
In 1978, Hindus in Moradabad district made up less than 30%. The violence that year began on 29 March 1978 when Vinod Pramod, a Hindu paan shop owner, defied a Muslim League leader’s bandh call
That leader was Mohd Manzar Shafi and had recently got bail in a communal violence case two years earlier where one Muslim and three Hindus were allegedly killed
Shafi’s men unleashed violence. Academic accounts describe Sambhal as turning into a “virtual crematorium”
Nov 27, 2024 • 10 tweets • 5 min read
Yesterday I visited Sambhal, where heavy stone-pelting erupted on Sunday during a court-ordered survey of a disputed mosque structure
To my surprise, every Hindu local - minorities in Sambhal - referred to the property as ‘Shri Hari Har Temple’
Here is what I found. A thread 🧵
First, a bit about the area
The mosque, known as Shahi Jama Masjid Sambhal, is located in Kot area of Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh. Hindus and Muslims refer to their respective colonies as Kot Purvi (East) and Kot Gharbhi (Gharab is West in Arabic).
The street outside the mosque’s front gate (seen in video) is largely Hindu-populated and leads to a police chowki. Locals jokingly call this street - Post office road - as India-Pakistan border
2011 census put Hindu population in Sambhal at 22%. In Kot, Hindus said they are no more than 10%
Nov 11, 2024 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
Yesterday, I visited Meerut’s Ambedkar Colony, where 30+ families have converted to Christianity
They attended Sunday prayer services at a pastor’s house till his arrest
We organized a Yajna-havan there. Deepest gratitude to those whose support made it possible
A thread 🧵
This largely Jatav community has seen rapid conversions over the past 8-9 years, mostly through dubious "medical healing" promises when healthcare costs became overwhelming
As missionaries face global backlash, they prey on the vulnerable in India
Nov 9, 2024 • 8 tweets • 5 min read
How did a conversion racket find its way in a posh colony full of retired police and army personnel in west Uttar Pradesh?
A couple of weeks ago, a conversion racket was busted in Vikas Enclave, a colony in Meerut, western UP
Here’s what I found on the ground 🧵
Vikas Enclave, located on Rohta Road in Meerut, is home to retired police and army personnel
For three months, residents were observing an unusual gathering at the first floor of a three-storey house on the corner of the colony
Every Sunday, 30-40 people would arrive around 10 am, staying for about two hours. House owner would tell the neighbours it was ‘satsang’
Picture of the corner house:
Jan 21, 2024 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
Since I am among the privileged ones to receive an invite for #RamMandirPranPrathistha, let me live tweet my experience 😀
I had booked two flights from Delhi to Lucknow for today. Good decision as the other one got cancelled. One flight finally taking off after delay of 2 hours
Scenes at Lucknow airport
Jan 20, 2024 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
With only a day left for #RamJanmbhoomiMandir opening, you may like to read my series of ground reports from Ayodhya about the temple struggle since 1850s
I spent a good two weeks in Ayodhya to understand the movement
Below is a thread of all my reports with context 👇
Who are Bairagis, what is Ramkot, and what role Bairagis and Ayodhya’s most visited temple Hanuman Garhi played in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri conflict in 1850
We all know that after demolishing the colony of poor #PakistaniHindu refugees, Jaisalmer administration in Rajasthan gave them 40 bigha land to resettle amid much chest-thumping
But do we know the ground reality?
Our @sewanyaya team visited the spot two days ago. A thread:
Tha land is uneven, full of pits and ditches. There is no road, no water, no resources to build houses.
Land is such they cannot build a shelter using bamboo and tarpaulin as they do in other places
You see these kids dancing on Radhe Radhe? They are Hindu migrants from Pakistan living in Jodhpur; their families awaiting Indian citizenship
Living in slums where water is scarce, their houses and water tanks were demolished by govt. When @sewanyaya team visited this week +
They said they don’t play or dance or sing for fear of getting thirsty. It was heartbreaking
We gifted nine 1000-litre four-later water tanks that should suffice for a camp. We also organised a party where kids danced and played and had sharbat to their hearts’ content ❤️ twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Feb 6, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Gujarat court has given a verdict that Hindu daughters of a woman, who remarried and had conversion-nikah, have no claim on their mother’s property
A thread on the case:
Ranjan Tripathi had three daughters from her husband, who was a govt employee. After his untimely death +
she got a govt job on compassionate grounds. Tripathi remarried, leaving her daughters with her in-laws. She had conversion-nikah with a Muslim man. Daughters filed a case in court to assert their rights on mother’s savings