We were in Bihar on our way from Narendrapur to Patna. Narendrapur is a village near Jiradei, the birthplace of India’s first president, Rajendra Prasad. I was returning after taking part in a reflective workshop on Mahatma Gandhi at the campus of an organisation called Parivartan. Our car had entered the road through Siwan.

As we drove along, I tried to look for familiar landmarks because this was the very road on which, from childhood through adolescence, I had spent countless hours every day. The road was narrow and crowded with people. Our car crawled forward slowly. On both sides of the road, there were women wearing hijabs and burqas.

“So many Muslims in Siwan!” the driver said.

A faint air of tension entered the vehicle, although the driver was merely describing what he saw. He had not expressed an opinion. But it surprised me that the sight of Muslims in Bihar should elicit a comment like this. The community forms nearly 17% of the population, and there is hardly any part of Bihar that Muslims do not live.

“Yes, there is quite a sizeable Muslim population here,” I replied. “I used to live here. I spent my childhood in a Muslim locality, Sheikh Mohalla.” I added, almost defensively, “Everyone used to live together.”

“Living together is a good thing,” the driver agreed.

I felt my back relax a little against the seat.

But the conversation had not ended.

“But sometimes Muslims do mischief,” he said.

Living together was a good thing, yes. But perhaps the driver wanted to explain why, in India, such togetherness often breaks down – or why it could not last. I straightened my back again in my seat.

He offered an example in support of his point: “Just look at what happened in Delhi. A girl merely threw a colour-filled balloon. It hit a Muslim woman. Then her family came with swords and sticks and beat one of the men from the girl’s family so badly that he died. Killing someone over such a small matter cannot be right.”

There was no anger in the driver’s voice. Yet the conclusion he wanted to lead me toward through with this example was clear.

He was referring to the horrific incident in Delhi’s Uttam Nagar on Holi relating to the murder of a young man named Tarun Khatik. The information the driver was giving me was precisely the information most of us had until a day after the incident.

Everyone had been shocked by the news. How could a man be killed merely because a coloured balloon had struck someone?

An argument on Holi spiralled into a clash and eventually led to the death of a man in Delhi's Uttam Nagar. Soon, Hindutva groups alleged that it was a communal hate crime. https://t.co/l7VV3YNWbX@sighyush & @raghavKakkar30 visit the locality to find out what really happened. pic.twitter.com/vhBAoRjkDF— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) March 13, 2026

An argument on Holi spiralled into a clash and eventually led to the death of a man in Delhi's Uttam Nagar. Soon, Hindutva groups alleged that it was a communal hate crime. https://t.co/l7VV3YNWbX@sighyush & @raghavKakkar30 visit the locality to find out what really happened. pic.twitter.com/vhBAoRjkDF

I began to think about all the clips I had seen on social media of how Holi has come to be celebrated. Many scenes were joyous and festive, involving the sprinkling of bright colours and throwing of coloured water.

No one thinks that throwing a balloon filled with colour at someone might injure them. But when a balloon is hurled at a person, the intention is rarely to give the target any pleasure. In fact, the shock experienced by the target gives the person throwing the balloon a certain thrill. The real objective is not to invite someone to join the festival of colours.

In recent years, another element has been added to this practice: choosing Muslims as the target – forcing Holi on them.

After Tarun Khatik’s murder, I watched a video of a Hindu boy repeatedly throwing colour-filled balloons at a Muslim woman. The woman staggered. Her bag fell to the ground. Other people were walking beside her. Yet the boy continued to aim only at the Muslim woman.

Where did he learn that the real fun of Holi lies in hurting Muslims?

Similar incidents may perhaps have taken place across the country on Holi. In most cases, the targets quietly ignored the action. After all, this is part of Holi revelry.

Before Holi, we did not see the police issuing instructions that the festival should not become an excuse for inflicting violence on others. On the contrary, one police officer was heard, with a smile, warning that those who did not wish to celebrate Holi should remain indoors that day.

Friday prayers take place 52 times while Holi is celebrated once a year. If anyone in the Muslim community feels use of Holi colour on them is profanity, it's better they don't step out of the homes: UP Police DSP Anuj Chaudhary in Sambhal. pic.twitter.com/COUtt8knSh— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) March 6, 2025

Friday prayers take place 52 times while Holi is celebrated once a year. If anyone in the Muslim community feels use of Holi colour on them is profanity, it's better they don't step out of the homes: UP Police DSP Anuj Chaudhary in Sambhal. pic.twitter.com/COUtt8knSh

But I also watched a video in which a police officer asks Muslims to celebrate their festivals within the confines of their homes. Even there, they cannot pray. They can be arrested if they are praying on their own property.

The implication is unmistakable: during Holi, mischief – even a degree of aggression – enjoys a certain licence. It is assumed to be part of the festival.

That is why old rivalries are often settled under the cover of Holi. This year alone, for instance, five people were reportedly killed in Odisha on Holi. There were dozens of other violent incidents in which people were injured. Last year, six killings were reported from the same state during the restival.

In those cases, both the perpetrators and the victims were Hindus.

Similar reports of killings and violence came from other states as well.

On Holi, bhang, alcohol, and other intoxicating substances are consumed with abandon. Violence is sometimes committed under the cover of intoxication. When a deliberate killing is described as an act committed in drunkenness, the gravity of the crime – and the punishment it attracts – becomes lighter.

In most such cases, both parties are Hindu. Yet we rarely see community organisations or crowds taking to the streets to protest these incidents.

In addition, under the cover of the festival, sexual harassment is not uncommon, Yet society rarely condemns this strongly. Most of the women who suffer such violence are Hindus. The perpetrators, too, are Hindus.

Gang Rape on Holi in Chhattisgarh's KondagaonFive men, including 03 minors, gang-raped a 19 y/o woman in Kondagaon on Holi, after entering her home under the pretext of applying colours and sending her mother away to buy a liquor bottle. All five accused have been arrested. pic.twitter.com/TcQtW2F6G9— زماں (@Delhiite_) March 7, 2026

Gang Rape on Holi in Chhattisgarh's KondagaonFive men, including 03 minors, gang-raped a 19 y/o woman in Kondagaon on Holi, after entering her home under the pretext of applying colours and sending her mother away to buy a liquor bottle. All five accused have been arrested. pic.twitter.com/TcQtW2F6G9

Tarun Khatik’s brutal murder became a national story, as it should have. Many reports emphasised that he was Dalit. However, the same day, another Dalit man was also killed because of Holi. In a village called Begariya near Lucknow, a 22-year-old Dalit youth named Suraj Gautam was killed by Brahmins from his village, seemingly because he had dared to wish them “Happy Holi”.

According to reports, a woman from a Brahmin family stabbed him in anger. Yet the news of Suraj Gautam’s murder had not reached our driver. That act of violence did not evoke popular anger.

No one is demanding justice for Suraj Gautam. But across social media, there have been frenzied demands that the killers of Tarun Khatik be punished. The chief minister of Delhi visited Tarun Khatik’s family to express her condolences.

Soon after the killing, as has become something of a custom in India over the last ten years, the home of the accused man was demolished. Before that, Bajrang Dal goons are alleged to have looted the home and burnt a motorcycle, as the police stood by silently. It has now become customary to justify Hindutva violence as an expression of hurt Hindu sentiments.

Gradually, more details emerged. It turned out that the families of Tarun Khatik and the accused Muslim men had an old dispute. The balloon had not been thrown by a little girl but by a man. There had been an exchange of abuse afterwards, but the matter had apparently calmed down.

Later, Khatik returned from the gym with several others and a fight broke out. During that fight, he was struck on the head, leading to his death. People from the Muslim side were also injured in the clash. According to their lawyer, a boy named Rizwan is badly injured and missing. The police have not provided any information about him.

Many members of the Muslim family are in jail. The Hindus who the Muslim family claim attacked them are free.

Demolition begins at the residence of accused in the Delhi murder where young man identified as Tarun was killed following altercation between families of two different communities over throwing of colour balloon on Holi. pic.twitter.com/V3tyJkvJ0E— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) March 8, 2026

Demolition begins at the residence of accused in the Delhi murder where young man identified as Tarun was killed following altercation between families of two different communities over throwing of colour balloon on Holi. pic.twitter.com/V3tyJkvJ0E

Our driver in Bihar did not know these facts. Millions of Hindus like him do not know them either. When I shared these details with him, he admitted that his information had come only from television and the mobile phone. He agreed that in light of the new facts, it would be difficult to hold only one side entirely responsible.

For Hindutva organisations, spreading hate propaganda is necessary for their anti-Muslim politics. But why is the media uninterested in the truth? Why is it manufacturing “facts” designed to produce hatred against Muslims?

How will Muslims defend themselves against such relentless propaganda?

After the incident, speaking to Hindus in that neighbourhood gives the impression that many of them do not harbour personal hatred toward Muslims. But the Muslim family’s home been looted without their participation – or at least their silent consent?

Since Tarun Khatik’s death, incidents of violence against Muslims have increased in Delhi and elsewhere. Neither the government nor the police has issued clear warnings that such violence will not be tolerated. No action has been taken against those spreading false news and propaganda.

We can see that the media and the government want hatred against Muslims among Hindus to grow deeper, to reduce, and eventually eliminate the spaces where the two communities still share life.

Especially those of us Hindus who like to see ourselves as conscientious and vigilant – what do we want?

Apoorvanand teaches Hindi in Delhi University.

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