Recognition of the various forms of social, economic and political violence that have been inflicted on Muslims in India is a prerequisite for ensuring equality to the community. This article utilises the frame of reference in Johan Galtung's theory of violence to explore the interaction between cultural, direct and structural violence against Muslims. It points out how direct violence reinforces structural violence, and how cultural violence is used to justify both direct and structural violence on Muslim men, women and children. Consensus to such violence is found in a new understanding of the "self" forged in opposition to a common "other". The Gujarat pogrom of 2002, the most recent, massive and extensive use of violence against Indian Muslims, serves as a good example because it contained within it the multidimensional forms of violence defined by Galtung.
