On Friday, November 13, a young Sikh boy was walking home from school and was attacked by two students. The two boys continued punching him repeatedly with several blows to his head. The boy tried to defend himself but continued to get injured until they were able to pin him to the ground. During the fight, they attempted to rip off the boy’s turban, which is a religious head covering often worn by Sikhs. After successfully pulling off the turban, other classmates can be heard in the background laughing at the scene. A bystander recorded a video and uploaded it to Twitter. 

All of the individuals involved in the attack were from Charleston School in Britain. The school has taken responsibility for the actions of the students involved and is working with the community to prevent any further similar event from occurring. The school also said that they are working with the police, in regards to this incident. 

Several individuals from the Sikh community have come out and spoke about this unfortunate incident. MP, Tammanjeet Singh Dhesi stated that the behaviour that he witnessed in the video is disgusting and vile, reminding him of his own experiences with bullying when he was younger. He emphasized that bullying and harassment should not be tolerated under any circumstances. He also stated that he would be looking into the issue to ensure that action is taken. 

It is evident that hate crimes against Sikhs in the U.K. have increased by 70 per cent within the last two years. This is cause for concern, especially since there are no effective systems in place that are able to monitor these crimes. Even though Sikhs are minorities in the U.K., they consist of the largest religious sector of Indians. The Sikh community have expressed their fears on this issue. MP, Preet Kaur Gill has spoken on behalf of the community, stating that they feel that there is no protection set in place for them. They also feel that there should be a definition for anti-Sikh crimes, just as there is one for anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. The lack of an official definition could be a result of crimes that are not reported, recorded or noticed by others.

It is important for the Sikh community to report hate crimes. This can be used to spread awareness and funding to resolve this issue. Furthermore, it is imperative that bystanders help and intervene when they see a hate crime occurring. This can help to prevent the worsening of this issue.