Eighteen days after a pastor was assaulted in Parjang Police Station space of Odisha’s Dhenkanal, and hours after the spouse’s criticism drew outrage from leaders throughout the nation, the Odisha Police on Thursday mentioned 9 folks have been detained and are being questioned.
Police mentioned they got here to know of the January 4 incident solely after the spouse lodged a criticism, that pastor Bipin Naik was assaulted by a mob comprising allegedly Bajrang Dal members, had vermillion smeared on him, was paraded with a garland of sneakers, and compelled to bow earlier than a temple, over allegations of conversion.
Admitting that they have been investigating these prices, Dhenkanal SP Abhinav Sonkar mentioned different claims, that Naik had been compelled to drink water from a drain and force-fed cow dung, had been discovered to be incorrect. “These haven’t been talked about within the criticism nor have we discovered any indication of this,” Sonkar mentioned.
Prior to now 19 months, half-a-dozen Odisha cities have seen curfew and Web suspension over communal incidents, together with lynching of Bengali-speaking Muslims. In a lot of the circumstances, the accused have been members of right-wing Hindu outfits.
Officers say many different circumstances could have gone unreported, with victims being Bengali-speaking every day wagers who’re hesitant to strategy police.
The Opposition has slammed it as “jungle raj” and the approaching of “communal stress” to a state the place the BJP shaped its first solo authorities in June 2024.
The most recent case was on January 14, when a Muslim youth was lynched by alleged ‘cow vigilantes’ in Balasore district. This was barely weeks after a Muslim youth from Murshidabad in West Bengal, 30-year-old Jewel Sheikh, was crushed to loss of life in Sambalpur district.
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In each the circumstances, police initially denied any ‘hate crime’. Whereas his co-workers and relations alleged Jewel had been assaulted on the suspicion of being an unlawful Bangladeshi immigrant, police mentioned the sufferer and the accused knew one another and had fought over a bidi. Six folks have been later arrested.
Within the January 14 Balasore case, the preliminary police FIR, lodged on the premise of a criticism by a sub-inspector, had no point out of the assault or any names. It solely said {that a} driver and proprietor of a van have been charged with rash driving, and beneath Sections of the Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act. Nonetheless, a video of the incident confirmed ‘Sk Makandar Mahammad’ (who died within the incident) being crushed up, compelled to chant Jai Shri Ram and to confer with the cow as his mom.
A homicide case was registered after Makandar’s brother lodged a criticism in opposition to 5 folks. Three have been lastly arrested, with self-proclaimed “gau-rakshaks” staging a dharna outdoors the Balasore Superintendent of Police’s workplace looking for their launch.
By then, communal stress had erupted in Sundargarh city in western Odisha over rumours of beef, that left not less than 12 injured. The federal government needed to droop the Web and impose prohibitory orders.
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A month earlier, on November 24, a winter-garment vendor, additionally from Murshidabad, was assaulted by a mob calling him Bangladeshi, at Ranipada village in Ganjam district. No arrests have been made as police mentioned they obtained no formal criticism.
On January 2, a youth named Sheikh Saroof was crushed by youths, who stripped him, paraded him and compelled him to chant non secular slogans. The Mayurbhanj SP mentioned two folks had been arrested.
Forward of Christmas 2025, avenue distributors promoting Santa Claus hats have been abused and chased away by a gaggle of youths in Puri. Police mentioned nobody lodged a criticism.
In October 2025, in an incident just about unknown for the town, Cuttack noticed a curfew of round three days following communal violence that began with a conflict throughout Durga Puja immersion. Days later, members of the VHP clashed with police and indulged in vandalism and arson.
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Following the incident, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, who additionally holds the Dwelling portfolio, issued an attraction for peace. “Cuttack is a thousand-year-old metropolis identified for its unity and communal concord. As a result of actions of some miscreants, peace has been disturbed in latest days,” he mentioned.
In December 2024, two tribal ladies have been allegedly tied to a tree and crushed up in Balasore for allegedly attempting to transform Hindus to Christianity. Police took motion after a video of the incident went viral.
In June 2024, barely every week after the BJP got here to energy, curfew was imposed in Odisha’s Balasore city following a communal conflict that stemmed from rumours that water in a neighborhood drain had turned purple led to allegations of cow slaughter.
The identical month, Web providers have been suspended in components of Bhadrak following the loss of life of a person after a conflict with cattle smugglers. Later, curfew was imposed in Khurda close to Bhubaneswar following communal stress.
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Previous numbers
As per information shared by the Union Ministry of Dwelling Affairs in Parliament, Odisha noticed 9 communal incidents in 2018, and 0 in 2019. The Nationwide Crime Information Bureau places the variety of communal or non secular incidents in Odisha at 10 in 2021, 44 in 2023 (the pre-election 12 months), and 15 in 2025.
Responding to a question on communal and mob violence in Odisha since 2024 within the state Meeting lately, CM Majhi mentioned data on it was being collected.
One of the vital notable communal incidents in Odisha in recent times was in 2023, a 12 months earlier than the state elections, when 25 folks have been injured in violence throughout Hanuman Jayanti in Sambalpur, with not less than one loss of life in subsequent confrontations.
BJD leaders give the instance of their authorities’s response after the violence, together with the arrest of over 100 folks and a two-week curfew. Senior cops from Bhubaneswar have been rushed to Sambalpur and the district administration held peace conferences to revive normalcy.
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The next 12 months, on Hanuman Jayanti, the administration banned non secular processions and bike rallies within the metropolis to keep away from any untoward scenario.
Claiming “full lawlessness within the state”, BJD Rajya Sabha MP Sulata Deo mentioned: “There’s an ecosystem backed by some folks in energy that encourages such actions… It’s the responsibility of the federal government to guard everybody, particularly the minorities.”
Former chief minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik has urged the federal government and all communities to guard the state’s picture of communal concord.
Congress spokesperson Amiya Pandav mentioned the hate incidents in opposition to minorities are “rigorously organized crimes promoted and patronised by the ruling BJP”.
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Minority ‘fears’
Bishop Pallav Lima, normal secretary of the Odisha unit of the Rashtriya Christian Morcha, blames police “inaction” in hate crimes, for the rise in communal incidents. Claiming 87 circumstances of “reported” hate crimes in Odisha since November 2024, “with none vital police motion”, Lima instructed The Indian Categorical: “We’re additionally in opposition to forceful conversions. Even when anyone is concerned in such practices, the legislation enforcement company ought to take motion as an alternative of mob assaults.”
He additionally accuses the Odisha authorities of ignoring the Supreme Courtroom’s 2018 ruling that an IPS officer oversee investigation in circumstances of mob lynching.
Syed Barkat Ali Tanveer, the coordinator of the Odisha Muslim Growth Council, says makes an attempt are being made to incite hate. “Had there been strict motion, such incidents wouldn’t have occurred incessantly. Individuals are arrested following incidents, however they know they are going to be launched on bail.”
A retired prime police officer accuses provocative statements by leaders as prompting vigilantes to take the legislation into their very own arms. “Police have to take strict motion in each case no matter their political affiliation,” says the retired officer.
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BJP MLA Ashok Mohanty says the Opposition’s cost of the Majhi authorities doing nothing is “baseless”. “Assaults on cattle smugglers” are solely a mirrored image of the anger of the folks, he says. “Those that take pleasure in cattle smuggling ought to concentrate on this.”
