APCR unveils new website to track hate crimes; data shows 3,576 incidents since 2014

The Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) on Wednesday launched an online hate crimes tracker to document incidents of violence and hate speech targeting religious minorities across India.

Unveiled at the Constitution Club of India in New Delhi, the APCR Hate Crimes Tracker is intended to serve as a publicly accessible database of verified incidents dating back to 2014.

According to APCR, the platform currently contains records of 3,576 religion-based hate incidents reported across the country since 2014. The organisation’s preliminary analysis reportedly found that 747 incidents involved physical assaults, while 376 were related to attacks on property.

APCR stated that visible religious identity was the most common trigger, linked to 908 incidents. It added that allegations related to the sale or consumption of non-vegetarian food accounted for 547 cases, while 166 incidents were associated with the celebration of religious festivals, Maktoob Media reported.

The tracker presently includes detailed data from 2024 to 2026, covering 1,153 hate crime incidents and 761 hate speech cases. Older records, APCR said, would be added in phases.

The organisation said the initiative was launched due to the lack of systematic official documentation of hate crimes by agencies such as the National Crime Records Bureau.

Speaking at the launch, APCR advocate Fawaz Shaheen said the tracker was built using publicly available information and was meant to create a repository of hate crime data from 2014 onwards. He also acknowledged that the database had limitations because many incidents go unreported, adding that it could only provide a fair representation of reported cases.

APCR said the platform follows a structured methodology, including separate classification of hate crime and hate speech incidents, cross-verification through social media and public sources, and contextual tagging based on factors such as mob involvement, stereotypes used, and alignment with the UN Rabat Plan of Action framework.

The launch event was attended by lawyers, activists and public intellectuals including Harsh Mander, Prashant Bhushan, Pamela Philipose and Apoorvanand. Speakers reportedly stressed the importance of independent documentation amid concerns over increasing impunity in hate-driven violence cases.

Participants also highlighted the connection between hate speech and physical violence, concerns regarding institutional inaction, and the need for stronger legal and civil society measures to address targeted attacks on minority communities.

APCR said the tracker would continue to be updated as more incidents are verified.