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Hindu Americans welcomed the FBI Advisory Policy Board’s (APB) recommendation that the FBI collect and report data regarding anti-Hindu, anti-Sikh, and anti-Arab hate crimes as part of its annual national data collection program mandated by the Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990 (HCSA).

Over the past several months, Hindu Americans and supporters of the community lit up their Congressional leaders’ phone lines in a nationwide campaign to encourage support for this initiative. The final decision to add the categories was taken just yesterday by the Advisory Policy Board, a subsidiary of the Department of Justice.

“We hope Director Robert Mueller approves the APB recommendation quickly so that they may be implemented without further delay,” said Samir Kalra, Esq., HAF Director and Senior Human Rights Fellow. “Law-enforcement agencies will now be better able to track and assess trends in hate crimes against these communities and, most importantly, provide better protection.”

HAF previously submitted comments to the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Advisory Policy Board, specifically focusing on the importance of creating an anti-Hindu hate crime category and its significance for tracking hate crimes against Hindu American institutions and individuals. The primary impetus for the proposal’s inclusion of an anti-Hindu hate crime category, HAF’s legal team said, may have been its comprehensive submission of written on the record testimony to a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing on “Hate Crimes and the Threat of Domestic Extremism,” spearheaded by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), in order to shed light on the impact of hate crimes on the Hindu American community.

“We thank Members of Congress and organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), who supported the call for broadening the tracking of hate crimes to accurately reflect the targeting of Hindu Americans and the FBI’s Advisory Board for making the right call,” said Suhag Shukla, Esq., HAF’s Executive Director and Legal Counsel. “The Advisory Board’s decision was particularly significant given the recent tragic death of Sunando Sen, a Hindu man who was pushed in front of a subway train in New York.”

Goa is known for its beautiful beaches

Panaji, Goa (CHAKRA) — Gomantak Mandir and Dharmik Sanstha is the new name of approximately 300 temple boards that have come together from all eleven talukas in the state of Goa, to deal with cases of thefts and desecrations in Hindu temples across the state.
The manner in which the Goa state goverment is dealing with the damage to the sacred shrines is being compared to the way in which the Portugese regime handled similar issues during colonial rule.  Representatives of the temple associations are not happy and have emerged together to try their best to make a difference.

Jayesh Thali, co-coordinator of the Mahasangh stated that in the past six years, over 250 temples have been ransacked in addition to 50 desecrations of Hindu idols.  He further stated that the government has displayed indifference to these constant incidents one after the other and have not come up with any solution or ideas to stop the abuse to the temples.

From a temple located in Porvorim, Rajkumar Dessai, bluntly stated that Portugese laws, as existent in the past are still present in the state of Goa, with only name changes to seemingly portray that laws were changed to revolutionize the state handlings of Hindu temples.  Nothing but the name of the act has been changed.  According to Dessai, the laws made for a cupboard being damaged are equivalent to the laws that exist for the damaging of idols in temples.  He strongly believes the laws are outdated and must be revolutionized to make a greater difference for the Hindu community in Goa.

A meeting was to be held by the Mahasangh to mobilize the faithful from across the state in order to unite and share similar viewpoints and ideas to create change.

Legal assistance, free of cost was to be given at the meeting relating to cases of thefts and desecrations.  The purpose of the meeting was to mobilize individuals so that they are better able to take control and report complaints about desecrations and damage to their temples.

In addition, the Mahasangh, is strongly against the demolitions of Hindu temples that already exist on government property or land. Ramesh Shinde, head of the Hindu Janjagruti Samiti for the regions of Goa , Gujarat and Maharashtra strongly condemned the inaction taken by the Goa government to put a stop to the damage and looting of sacred Hindu temples.  He thinks the Goa government should create a clear plan to stop the attacks on temples.  He has concluded that there is no fear of laws in the state of Goa, especially since there have been repeated cases to the same shrines over and over again.  The Sateri temple in Curchorem has been looted 5 times as stated by Shinde and just in the last year there have been 13 successful temple theft cases in Mapusa.  When the same damage happens to the same temple over a number of times resulting in laws being discounted continuously, a state of chaos is near if not in existence already.
By Linda Brock

USA Vice President – Joe Biden

Washington, US (CHAKRA)—Groups of American Sikh leaders have turned to Biden to take up Sikh related issues with other countries.

Since the 9/11 attacks Sikhs have been continuously targeted as followers of the Taliban and would like to make clear that they are in no way followers of the Taliban thus should not be mistakenly targeted as so.

In recent times, Sikhs have been targets of hate crime because of their turbans and this is an issue that Sikh leaders discussed with Biden in addition to other issues related to their community.

One of the issues discussed was in related to Sikhs being besieged in France for their turban and other religious symbols.

The meeting took place in Silicon Valley between Sikh leaders in California and Biden while Biden was there to raise money for the re-election of Democratic Senator, Barbara Boxer. 

Dr. Pritpal Singh, convener of the American Gurudwara Parbhandhak Committee (AGPC), said that Biden patiently listened to all the issues and assured them that these issues would be brought into light and addressed.

Dr. Kulwant Singh an active member of the Democratic Party, Barbir Singh Dillon, a senior leader from San Jose, and Harpreet Singh Sandhu, a former councillor of Richmond were part of the Sikh delegation that spoke to Biden.