New York: An elderly Sikh-American man was brutally injured and called his a “terrorist” and “Bin Laden” in an evident hate crime case in Chicago. This incident took place just few days before the US commemorates the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Inderjit Singh Mukker was assaulted on Tuesday when the suspected forcefully dragged his car yelling racial slurs, which included, “Terrorist, go back to your country, Bin Laden!”
US citizen, Mr Sigh who is the father of two, was on his way to a grocery store and repeatedly cut off by a driver. He pulled over to the side of the road to let him pass but the driver instead pulled in front of his car and aggressively approached Mr Mukker’s vehicle, according to information by the Sikh Coalition, a community-based organisation said.
The accused got into the car and repeatedly punched Mr Mukker on the face, until he lose his consciousness, bleed profusely and suffered a fractured cheekbone and a laceration to his cheek.
The injured rushed to a nearby hospital and received treatment for six stitches, lacerations, bruising and swelling. The suspect is in custody.
Harsimran Kaur, the Sikh Coalition’s Legal Director said the community believes that Mr Mukker was “targeted and assaulted because of his Sikh religious appearance, race or national origin.”
“We request an immediate investigation and call on local and federal agencies to investigate this attack as a hate crime,” Ms Kaur said.
Mr Mukker added, “No American should be afraid to practice their faith in our country. I’m thankful for the authorities’ swift response to apprehend the individual but without this being fully investigated as a hate crime, we risk ignoring the horrific pattern of intolerance, abuse and violence that Sikhs and other minority communities in this country continue to face.”
This is not the fist time that a member from the Sikh community injured, earlier Sandeep Singh, a Sikh father in New York City, was run over and dragged 30 feet after being called a “terrorist.”
In 2012, a gunman walked into a Sikh house of worship and shot and killed six innocent Sikh victims in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.
