Hate Crime: Sikh Student Assaulted; Turban Ripped Off, Dragged By Hair

Montreal: A Sikh student from India was the victim of a hate crime in Canada’s British Columbia as a group of men ripped off his turban and dragged him across the sidewalk by his hair.

The 21-year-old Gagandeep Singh was assaulted when he was returning home on Friday night, reported PTI.

Councillor Mohini Singh, who went to visit Gagandeep soon after hearing about the attack, was ‘horrified’ to see him.

“He could only speak in soft tones and couldn’t open his mouth… His eyes were swollen shut and he was in significant pain,” CTV News quoted the councillor as saying.

According to the councillor, Gagandeep was heading home around 10.30 pm after grocery shopping when he was harassed by a group of 12 to 15 young people on the bus who threw a wig at him.

As Gagandeep got off the bus, the rowdy group followed suit and waited for the bus to leave before roughing him up.

After inflicting injuries on his face, ribs, arms and legs, the group grabbed his turban, pulled his hair and dragged him to the sidewalk.

The miscreants took the turban, leaving Gagandeep in a pile of dirty snow on the side of the road, added the councillor.

On regaining consciousness, Gagandeep called a friend who dialled 911 and he was taken to a hospital.

Councillor Mohini said the fact that Gangandeep is Sikh and from India was ‘undoubtedly’ a factor in the assault.

She believed it was an incident of racism and should be treated that way.

“This is intolerable, it’s absolutely disgusting… not acceptable anywhere,” Mohini said.

Local police said they are investigating after someone was “hit from behind and assaulted” by a group of people at the bus stop and that responding officers found the victim lying on the ground.

“The Kelowna RCMP take this very seriously and are concerned that this type of crime has happened in our city… This assault is the top priority for our investigators,” spokesperson Constable Mike Della-Paolera said.