Over 50% drop in communal riots in 2025, but violence shifted to more systemic forms: Study

While the number of communal riots in India fell by more than half in 2025 compared to the previous year, religion-based violence and exclusion shifted to more systemic forms, a report by civil society organisation Centre for Study of Society and Secularism said.

There were 28 communal riots in 2025 as compared to 59 in 2024, marking a 52% reduction, the report said. The riots left four dead and 360 injured.

However, mob violence increased slightly in 2025, with 14 incidents claiming eight lives. In 2024, there were 13 cases of mob violence, which resulted in 11 deaths.

The study by the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism was based on reports published in the Mumbai editions of The Indian Express, The Hindu, The Times of India, Sahafat and Inquilab.

The organisation said that although its analysis showed that the number of riots had declined, there did not seem to be any respite in “identity-based conflict and religion-based hatred, which has taken a different route”.

It pointed to institutional discrimination against Muslim and Christian communities, the “forced invisibilisation and marginalisation” of their cultures in public spaces, the proliferation of hate speech and impunity for Hindutva extremist groups.

At the same time, there has been a “marked hyper-visibility and assertion of dominance” of Hindu festivals, symbols and practices were increasingly visible in public spaces, reinforcing “majoritarian cultural hegemony”, the study said.

Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bengal report most riots

Maharashtra accounted for seven of the 28 communal riots in the country, followed by West Bengal and Gujarat with four each. Madhya Pradesh had three, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam and Uttarakhand had two each, and Bihar and Odisha had one each.

Maharashtra and Gujarat accounted for nearly 40% of all the riots, while eastern states accounted for 37% and northern states 25%. The south reported none.

Nine of the 28 riots were triggered by religious processions or festivals. Examples include clashes during Ram Navami processions in West Bengal and Jharkhand, a Hanuman Jayanti procession in Madhya Pradesh, Eid celebrations in Assam and garba events in Gujarat. Other riots were sparked by protests over the Waqf Amendment Act, with fatalities including a Hindu father-son duo in West Bengal’s Murshidabad.

The study said that while state governments made efforts to ensure speedy justice in cases where Hindus were victims of communal violence, the absence of comparable judicial outcomes in cases involving Muslim victims “raises significant concerns regarding institutional bias”.

State governments, especially those ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, often intervened on behalf of Hindu rioters, disproportionately targeting Muslims, the study said.

“Collectively, these patterns highlight systemic failures in state responses to mob violence and underscore the urgent need for impartial law enforcement, accountability mechanisms, and institutional reform to protect vulnerable communities and uphold the rule of law,” the study said.

The Centre for Study of Society and Secularism said that in the aftermath of these riots, state authorities disseminated narratives, amplified by sections of the media, that attributed sole responsibility for the violence to Muslims.

“In official statements, Muslim ‘masterminds’ or ‘kingpins’ of communal riots were invented,” it said. “This framing was accompanied by disproportionate arrests and coercive police action against members of the Muslim community.”

Anti-Christian violence

The study also highlighted the recent attacks on Christmas celebrations in several parts of the country as being indicative of rising communal hostility. It said that while there had been sporadic attacks on Christmas celebrations in previous years, the year 2025 “saw a more coordinated and aggressive pattern of assaults on Christmas-related events and celebrations”.

The report quoted data from the United Christian Forum, which recorded 706 incidents of violence against Christians nationwide by November, many linked to anti-conversion narratives.

“One recurrent and particularly severe form of violence reported during the year involved the denial of burial rights to Christians, especially in tribal-dominated states such as Chhattisgarh,” the report said.