According to the reports, the hate crime is a prejudice-motivated crime, which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her membership in a certain social group. There are several cases in India too that displays the existence of the hate crime against the particular social and religious groups. In yet another case of the hate crime, an Indian-origin Sikh settled in America was brutally assaulted by the group of men who knocked off his turban and also cut off his religiously mandated unshorn hair with a knife. Read the complete report here.
[su_expand more_text=”READ MORE” less_text=” ” height=”0″ hide_less=”yes” link_style=”button” link_align=”center”]Based on the news published by Press Trust of India (PTI), a 41-year-old Sikh-American IT socialist was brutally attacked by a group of men who not only hit him but also humiliated him by knocking off his turban and cutting his religiously mandated unshorn hair with the knife.
The father of victim Man Singh Khalsa had approached the Civil rights organization in California demanding the investigation in the hate crime incident. According to the sources, when the unpleasant incident took place the IT specialist was driving along with his father towards the home when the group of culprits in another car threw the beer can at his vehicle.
According to the narration of the father of the victim, the group of men followed them despite they did not stop. “Khalsa drove away from the scene but the men followed him and assaulted him through his open car window, knocking off his Sikh turban and hitting his face repeatedly,” according to a statement from The Sikh Coalition, the nation’s largest Sikh civil rights organization.
The victim narrated that “five to six white males in their late 20s to early 30s” who abused him and three of them then attacked him physically. Shouting that Khalsa’s hair should be cut off, the men pulled his head out of the window, and cut a fistful of his religiously-mandated unshorn hair with a knife, the complaint alleged. Khalsa sustained injuries to his fingers, hands, eye, and teeth.
The Sikh Coalition has written to the Richmond Police Department and the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office on behalf of Khalsa, urging authorities to conduct a hate crime investigation and prosecution in the case. “The attackers caused physical injuries and deep harm when they targeted my Sikh faith,” Khalsa said in a press statement released by the Sikh Coalition.
“I urge a thorough investigation so we can address the tide of violence and bigotry in this country.”
Sikh Coalition Legal Director, Harsimran Kaur urged authorities to fully investigate “this hateful attack” on Khalsa and his Sikh identity. “The purpose of a hate crime investigation and prosecution is to ensure that our government and communities accurately account for the problem of bias in our society,” Kaur said. The Sikh Coalition said that in the 15 years that have followed 9/11, Sikhs remain hundreds of times more likely to be targeted in cases of profiling, bigotry, and backlash than the average American.”We need to acknowledge hatred so that we commit the resources necessary to stem bias-based violence,” Kaur said.
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