Thread by @FactCheckIndia

Last week, @SwarajyaMag accused us--without seeking our comment--of selective use of hate-crime #data, offering 35 cases from the English media not in our database, and 23 taken from the Hindi press. As promised, we checked all these cases. Here is our response

Of 35 cases-- 9 cases fit the description of a hate crime--as our methodology clearly lists. We have added these to our database.

One case Swarajya pointed out was already recorded in the database, and so has been dropped. 2 cases have been put on hold: 1 has been referred to our advisors for adjudication, the other, owing to conflicting news reports of the incident, has been referred to a fact finding team

In the attached spreadsheet, we have listed the incidents that have not been added to our database with reasons explaining why: bit.ly/2BuRUtn

With these nine incidents from @SwarajyaMag's list, and eight others that we have found in our own research, #HateCrimeWatch has now recorded 274 hate crimes between 2009 and 2018.

With one month to go for the end of the year, 2018 reported the most hate crimes (87), followed by 2017 (75).

Of 274 religious identity-based #hatecrimes reported in India from Jan 2009, #Muslims (comprising 14% of population) were victims in 59% cases, Christians (2% of popn) in 14% cases. Majority Hindus (80% of popn) were victims in 13%

Of the 187 cases in which the religion of the perpetrator is known, 83% cases involved Hindus (155). In 16% or 30 cases, these were #Muslim. In 87 cases, the religion of the attacker was not known

Most attacks (28% or 76 incidents) were under the pretext of cow protection. 15% (40 incidents) were due to bias against interfaith relationships and 9% or 26 cases were against alleged religious conversion. Minor disputes accounted for 6% (16 incidents)

Explore the #data here: bit.ly/hate-crime-wat…

As we had always said, #HateCrimeWatch is an ongoing, ever-expanding effort, starting with the English press and growing to incorporate Hindi and other language media.

We have now started probing crimes reported in the Hindi press, including the 23 cases @SwarajyaMag picked. We hope to expand the database to include Hindi media reports by January 10, 2019

We thank @SwarajyaMag for drawing our attention to these cases. We also hope everyone joins us in making the database more robust.

To make this process more methodical, we request you to use this Google form to report incidents that you think we have missed: bit.ly/2r1LKuL

We promise to probe every incident that is brought to our attention, and add everything that fits our definition. We will also share a reason why the ones that don't make it to our database do not fit our definition

If you think any of the incidents on the database do not belong there, please write to us at [e-mail] with details, and we will look into them.

As we have said, our methodology and definition, modelled on other international projects, have been vetted by our group of advisors including a retired judge, former IPS officer, a human rights champion and a law professor.

Although India’s National Crime Records Bureau collates information on a wide range of crimes, it does not count #hatecrimes.

This contrasts with mandatory duties that have been established in democracies with diverse populations such as the United States and the United Kingdom, where the state is required to publish regular reports on #hatecrimes

While we continue to demand from the state that it collects & publishes credible, independent hate crime data, #HateCrimeWatch is an endeavour to document rising incidence of reporting, identify patterns for public scrutiny in the hope that the state will recognise & address it