‘Should I kill myself?’: How a woman’s birthday party became a free pass for a Hindutva mob |
“I had invited my entire class. That included Hindus, Muslims and even Christians,” said Shivangi Patel. “If a classmate of mine is Muslim, am I not allowed to interact with him?”
It’s been 24 hours since videos of 22-year-old Shivangi’s birthday party went viral. Not for the festivities or good cheer, but because Hindutva men, allegedly led by the local Bajrang Dal, stormed the venue, a cafe in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly, and assaulted two Muslim men who were among the attendees.
The men claimed Shivangi and her Muslim friends were indulging in ‘love jihad’.
A nursing student in Bareilly, UP, hosted a birthday party for her classmates at a café. The group included six girls and four boys, two of whom were Muslim. Shortly after the celebration began, members of the Bajrang Dal barged in, assaulted the Muslim boy and the girl and… pic.twitter.com/T8b1d7lQvw
‘Love jihad’ is a Hindutva conspiracy theory that Muslim men seduce Hindu women with the express purpose of converting them to Islam. Yet several social media accounts and media houses ran with headlines and captions on Shivangi’s birthday party that presented the conspiracy theory as fact.
Shivangi would later file a police complaint but an FIR wasn’t registered. Instead, both her Muslim classmates and the owner of the cafe were booked for ‘unlawful assembly’. An FIR was registered meanwhile on the basis of a complaint from the cafe’s owner. As of 6 pm on December 29, six people have been arrested so far.
Shivangi is particularly upset by an Instagram Reel of the violence that says: “Bajrang Dal conducted a raid at a cafe in Rajendra Nagar and caught two Muslim boys and a girl indulging in love jihad.” The Reel uses a Hindutva song titled Ek Hind Ka Beta Hai Sab Pe Bhari – ‘one son of India is enough to tackle everyone else’.
“I’m so disturbed right now every time I watch that Reel, which even my family must have also seen by now,” Shivangi told Newslaundry. “Should I kill myself by succumbing to the pressure these guys have put me under?”
Newslaundry spoke to various parties to piece together what happened.
‘Call the police. We aren’t bothered’
Shivangi is originally from Badayun. She turned 22 on December 27.
It was a birthday she was looking forward to, especially since she had only two months left to go to finish her nursing course at the Keshlata Institute of Nursing. This would be, she thought, a way to end the year celebrating with her batchmates.
She showed Newslaundry a copy of the e-vite she’d made for the party. The venue she selected was the Den Cafe and Restaurant in Rajendra Nagar.
The party invitation. Please note that Dane Cafe is a typo; it is Den Cafe.
On December 26, Shivangi sent the invite to her class WhatsApp group, which has 40 members. “You are warmly invited to my birthday party,” she wrote. “Please join me to celebrate this special day. You all invited..”
A screenshot of the WhatsApp message that Shivangi sent.
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