Authorities within the US have arrested a person who attacked an Indian-origin Sikh taxi driver at JFK International Airport right here and shouted “turban-clad people, go back to your country”.
Mohammad Hasnain was arrested on Thursday in reference to the January 3 assault on a Sikh taxi driver, who’s being recognized solely as Mr Singh, due to his privateness requests being revered.
The assault on a Sikh taxi driver in New York is extraordinarily disturbing. We have taken up this matter with US officers and urged them to research this violent incident.@PMOIndia @MEAIndia @DrSJaishankar @IndianEmbassyUS @NYCMair @NYCMayorsOffice
— India in New York (@IndiainNewYork) 8 January 2022
The Port Authority of New York and the New Jersey Police Department (PAPD) confirmed on Friday that Hasnain had been arrested for the assault in opposition to Singh, mentioned community-based civil and human rights group The Sikh Coalition.
Noting that the incident is being handled as a hate crime, Hasnain shouted “go back to your country” and “turbaned people” in a derogatory method whereas repeatedly punching and pushing Singh, it mentioned.
Hasnain is being charged with assault within the third diploma as a hate crime, assault within the third diploma and critical assault within the second diploma, and can be produced on Saturday.
“I am grateful to law enforcement, the Sikh Coalition and all those in the community who have offered their strength during this difficult time,” Singh mentioned in a press release to the Sikh Coalition.
“No one should have experience with what I did—but if they do, I expect they will receive equal support and prompt, professional action by the authorities in response,” he mentioned.
On January 3, Singh, a resident of New York City, was bodily assaulted and crushed up close to his cab at JFK International Airport. Singh had parked his cab on the Terminal 4 taxi stand when one other driver stopped his car.
When Singh picked up a buyer, he bought out of his automobile to ask the opposite driver to proceed. Another driver tried to hit Singh via the door of his personal automobile; He then started punching Singh repeatedly within the head, chest and arms, inflicting his turban to unravel and fall, the assertion mentioned.
According to the assertion launched by the organisation, the second driver referred to as Singh “wearing a turban” and shouted to “go back to his country”.
Amrit Kaur Aakre, authorized director of the Sikh Coalition, mentioned the group was grateful to the Port Authority Police Department and the Queens District Attorney’s Office for immediate motion within the matter, and for acknowledging that the assault on Singh contained clear anti-Sikh bias.
“This case underscores the importance of sharing all details of these types of attacks with law enforcement. Holding perpetrators accountable for both their actions and their hateful motives is the most obvious way to show that bigotry and the violence it leads to has no place in our communities,” Aakre mentioned.
Singh had lodged a report with the Port Authority Police Department quickly after the incident.
The Sikh Coalition labored to make sure that the report “presents an accurate picture of the attack, given the language barrier during initial talks.” To present language help and authorized help, the group’s workers accompanied Singh to a gathering with a detective.
The group mentioned that in its expertise, there was an elevated danger of hate assaults on taxi and rideshare drivers belonging to the Sikh group.
Navjot Pal Kaur posted the 26-second video of the assault on Twitter on January 4 and it quickly went viral. Kaur had tweeted, “This video was taken by a bystander at John F Kennedy International Airport. I don’t personal the rights to this video. But I simply wished to focus on the truth that hatred nonetheless persists in our society and sadly I’ve seen repeated assaults on Sikh cab drivers.”
Simran Jeet Singh, creator and director of the Aspen Institute’s Inclusive America Project, tweeted, “Another Sikh cab driver assaulted. It’s at JFK Airport in NYC. Seeing so upset. But it is important that we do not look away… I am sure how painful it is that our fathers and elders are assaulted while they are just trying to live an honest life. “For those that will not be Sikhs, I can not put into phrases what it means to tear off your turban – or to see another person pat your turban. It’s intestine and gut-wrenching and so miserable to witness ,” Singh tweeted.
The Consulate General of India in New York termed the assault on a Sikh taxi driver as “extremely disturbing” and mentioned it has taken up the matter with US officers and urged them to research the violent incident.
The US State Department additionally mentioned it was “deeply disturbed” by studies of an assault on a Sikh cab driver at JFK International Airport captured on video.
“Our diversity makes America stronger and we condemn any form of hate-based violence,” the State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs (SCA) tweeted.
It mentioned within the tweet, “We all have a responsibility to hold perpetrators of hate crimes accountable for their actions, regardless of where such crimes occur.”
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
