ARCHIVED FORUM: Gurdwara Tapoban Sahib
Sikh Assaulted
Posted by : jagroop singh
Date: 7/13/2004 4:42 am
Man charged with hate crime against US Sikh
Tuesday July 13 2004 16:31 IST
IANS
NEW YORK: A man here has been charged with beating up a Sikh limousine driver who is also a spiritual leader in another instance of hate crimes against the community in the US.
Salvatore Macell, 26, along with some other men allegedly punched and kicked Rajinder Singh Khalsa, 54, into unconsciousness on a sidewalk in the Queens area, the New York Times reported.
Macell has been charged with assault. He faces up to four years in prison if convicted. His accomplices may also be charged, say police.
Apparently it all started when Khalsa was walking with another Sikh man, Singh Gurcharan, past a catering hall and encountered a group of women who had emerged from a christening ceremony there.
A policeman said when they encountered Khalsa and Gurcharan on the sidewalk, the women, who had been drinking, made disparaging remarks about the Sikh men's turbans.
When the two men responded angrily, pointing out the religious significance of their turbans, men inside the catering hall thought the women in their party were being harassed, the police official said. Some of the men responded violently, with Macell taking the lead in the assault, the official said.
Police said the assailants were drunk and they ridiculed Khalsa for wearing a turban, calling it "dirty curtains".
Gurcharan, an Indian restaurant owner, fled and escaped injury. Khalsa was admitted to a hospital, treated for cuts and a broken nose and has now been released.
Sikhs in the US have been the target of hate crimes, particularly after the 9/11 terror attacks on the US, as they wear turbans and sport beards - which many liken to the followers of Osama bin Laden.
