However, the Thrissur City police claimed that the accused was mentally unstable and that he had been undergoing treatment for the past 25 years. “A video of a young man in Guruvayur is seen circulating in social media in a way that creates communal rivalry. During the investigation, it was learned that the young man had a mental disorder and was under treatment for the past 25 years. Those who share the video and share posts related to it in a manner that creates communal rivalry will be subject to strict legal action,” the police warned on Facebook.
Following the incident, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad performed a purification puja of the Tulsi plant. A purification ceremony was performed by VHP Joint Secretary Anoop, members of Hindu Aikya Vedi, members of the Temple Protection Committee, and local devotees. The Hindu Aikya Vedi filed a police complaint which eventually led to the arrest of the accused but the police labelled the accused as mentally unstable.
It is crucial to note that the accused Abdul Hakeem has not faced the allegations for the first time. Hakeem who is the owner of the National Paradise Restaurant was accused of selling stale and spoiled food to the people. He was also accused of installing hidden cameras in his hotel’s restrooms which resulted in complaints being filed against him at the Guruvayur police station. The matter was reportedly suppressed due to political intervention. The Islamist was also accused of pelting stones earlier at busses carrying Ayyappa devotees.
The recent incident notably adds up to the misconduct executed by the accused, this time attempting to insult the Hindu religion. It has been observed time and again that the reason for ‘mental’ instability’ is used in many cases to downplay the crimes and allegedly save the accused, especially those belonging to specific communities.
It seems to be a time-tested formula that keeps resurfacing again and again. Be it the attack on the Gorakhnath temple or the incident in Telangana where two Muslim women wearing burqa tried to damage temple and church idols, the corporate English media, the left-liberals, Islamists, and their apologists, have been unrelenting in their use of the ‘mental illness’ trope to justify Muslim-committed crimes.
List of attacks where accused from specific communities were declared ‘mentally unstable’
1) Recently, in November 2024, a 24 years old woman, named Fatima Khan, was detained from Ulhasnagar in the Thane area of Mumbai, Maharashtra, for sending death threats to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The police detained the woman and labelled her as mentally unstable. Interestingly, the woman held a Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology.
2) In December 2023, a 60-year-old man named Latif Khan was arrested by the Mahakal police station of Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh for urinating on Hindu temples at Ramghat in Ujjain. The accused was a retired sanitation worker of the Ujjain Municipality. He was booked under section 295A of the IPC and presented before a court after which he was sent to jail. The police looked into the incident primarily and declared that the accused was mentally unstable.
Ujjain, MP: Ex-sweeper of the Municipal Corporation, Mohammad Latif Khan caught urinating on Hindu Mandirs.
— Treeni (@TheTreeni) December 1, 2023
The police arrested him under section 295A and sent him to jail. pic.twitter.com/uNvqQrizoC
3) Farooq Chisti, one of the six culprits of one of the largest sex scandals in the nation, which took place in Ajmer 32 years ago, who raped the minor girls and threatened them was also earlier declared mentally unstable. However, he was convicted by a fast-track court in Ajmer in 2007 and was sentenced to life in jail by the district court on August 20th, 2024.
4) In 2022, the Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh was attacked by accused Ahmad Murtaza Abbasi who allegedly had planned the targeted attack. However, SP’s Akhilesh Yadav had whitewashed the attack saying that Abbasi had psychiatric issues. Downplaying the attack on a Hindu temple, the SP Chief had targeted the BJP saying that it was ‘exaggerating’ the matter.
Later, during the investigation, the security agencies found that the accused was influenced by banned Islamic preacher Zakir Naik and had ISIS links. It was also learned that the accused had terror connections and was associated with extremists in Syria.

5) In October 2022, two Muslim women were detained for reportedly vandalizing the idol of the goddess Durga at a Navratri pandal in Hyderabad. The ladies barged into a pandal in the city’s Khairatabad locality and smashed a portion of the Durga statue, according to Hyderabad Police. When a local tried to stop them, one of the ladies attacked him with a metallic tool. The ladies were reportedly labelled as mentally disturbed and affected by schizophrenia.
6) In September of the same year, a man identified as Rameez Ahmed broke into the Bhagwan Hanuman temple in the Hindpuri Police Station area of Ranchi, Jharkhand, and vandalized the idol there. Ahmed was subsequently arrested by the police. Notably, the police had claimed that Ahmed was mentally unstable. The locals were not satisfied by the reasoning provided by the police.
7) In 2018, a case of idol vandalism in a Hindu temple had been reported from the Shahganj region of Agra in Uttar Pradesh. It was reported that the accused had vandalized a Hanuman and Durga idol to instigate communal tensions. The devotees then caught hold of the individual reportedly trying to flee the temple premises, who when questioned identified himself as Sonu Khan.
As per a tweet by ANI, the accused was assaulted by the locals after being tied to a tree, following which he was handed over to the police. The news agency claimed that the accused was “mentally challenged”.
8) Similarly, in 2016, a youth from a particular community barged into the temple at Janipur in Jammu, threw stones at windowpanes, and tried to damage the idol. The miscreant was identified as Yasir, a resident of Doda town in Jammu. Several media outlets were ready to play the ‘mentally disturbed’ card in this case as well because the offender belonged to their preferred community.
9) In October 2022, Jammu and Kashmir DGP (Prisons) Hemant Kumar Lohia was found dead under mysterious circumstances with throat slit and burn marks on his body. Terror group People’s Anti-Fascist Force (PAFF), an offshoot of Pakistan-headquartered terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, had claimed responsibility for the murder. Prima facie it had appeared to be a case of murder and his domestic help Yasir Lohar was believed to be the primary suspect. Yasir first suffocated the DG to death, then used a broken ketchup bottle to slit his throat, and later tried to set his body on fire before fleeing the crime scene. In the given case as well, the accused was declared as ‘mentally unstable’.
Disturbing trend transpiring hatred towards the Hindu religion
In recent years, a concerning trend of attacks on Hindu temples by Islamists dubbed “mentally unstable” in the media and by the leftist authorities has emerged in various parts of India. These incidents have affected regions across the country. Notably, some of these attacks have occurred during festive seasons or close to religious Hindu processions.
Additionally, this trend transpires without provocation, underscoring the deep-rooted hatred towards Hinduism in the minds of Islamists which is probably the root cause behind these attacks. It is worth noting that in several of these cases, dedicated attempts were made to excuse their actions by labeling the attackers as mental patients.
In the given case also, the attack on Tulsi happened in the Guruvayur temple in the state of Kerala which is ruled by the left. The attacker, Abdul Hakeem who is the owner of a hotel and has been accused several times earlier of misconduct is being labelled as ‘mentally unstable’. The accused notably insulted the Tulsi during the Pongal festival which is a multi-day Hindu harvest festival celebrated in the southern part of the country.
It is worth noting that in many such cases, it is observed that the accused Islamists only attack Hindu temples or events in an alleged targeted attempt. And then such attacks are either downplayed by the left and Islamists or are whitewashed. The left authorities also notably label the accused persons, especially those belonging to the specific communities as ‘mentally unstable’, in an alleged attempt to shield the accused and maintain communal peace.
Interestingly, these ‘mentally unstable’ accused Islamists only look for Hindu temples to attack and cause insult to the Hindu religion. Other religion’s places of worship are hardly allegedly attacked by these ‘mentally unstable’ accused Islamists, indicating the community’s deep hatred towards Hinduism. And in any other case of an alleged attack on a specific religion, the accused are charged with blasphemy.
Hindus need to stand together against such downplaying and whitewashing of crimes against their community and demand justice. This also calls for an unbiased application of the law equally against all the accused persons committing crimes against Hindus, despite whatever religious background they come from.