No American should be afraid to practice their faith in our country, said Mukker.
By Raghavendra M
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In a presumably hate crime case, an elderly Sikh American was attacked by an assailant in Chicago on Tuesday, just days ahead of 9/11 attack anniversary.
Inderjit Singh Mukker, a resident in the Darien suburb of Chicago, was brutally assaulted after the assailant pulled up to his car yelling racial slurs, including, “Terrorist, go back to your country, Bin Laden!”
Mukker, a US citizen and father of two, was on his way to the grocery store and was repeatedly cut off by the 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 Mukker’s vehicle, said Sikh Coalition, a community-based organisation.
The assailant then reached into the car and repeatedly punched the victim in the face, causing him to lose consciousness, bleed profusely and suffer a fractured cheekbone and a laceration to his cheek.
He was rushed to the hospital, where he received six stitches, treatment for lacerations, bruising and swelling. The suspect is in custody.
Reacting to the assault, Mukker said, “No American should be afraid to practice their faith in our country”.
“I’m thankful for the swift response of authorities 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” he added.
“We believe Mr. Mukker was targeted and assaulted because of his Sikh religious appearance, race or national origin,” said the Sikh Coalition’s Legal Director Harsimran Kaur. She demanded an immediate investigation on this attack as a hate crime.
Post 9/11, there has been several assault cases on the people of Sikh community. Last August, 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 with Neo-Nazi ties walked into a Sikh house of worship (gurdwara) and shot and killed six innocent Sikh victims in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.