Hate Crimes Against Minorities in India: Locating the Value of an International Criminal Law Discourse?

Violence against Muslims and Dalits in India has drastically increased since the incumbent political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), came to power in 2014. Around 85% of perpetrators are alleged to have been associated either with the BJP or its sister Hindu organizations. In at least some cases, law enforcement agencies have been either indifferent or hostile to the victims. Such crimes may be considered as hate crimes, yet an understanding of this concept — as a tool which accounts for the criminality of individual acts while appreciating the systemic prejudices that motivate them — is lacking in Indian law. This warrants consideration of international criminal law, as a discourse which may complement and support domestic reform, since hate crimes constitute an inhumane affront to the values of dignity and liberty which underlie international core crimes. In this context, this article examines whether the elements of crimes against humanity, particular those of murder and persecution, may be applied to the recent events in India.