India’s external affairs minister names the victim in a tweet on Sunday.
India’s Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj has outed the victim of Friday’s apparent hate crime attack in Kent, Washington.
The 39-year-old Sikh American, an immigrant from Punjab, India, was shot by a man, identified by the victim as a 6-foot tall white male.
The victim told the law enforcement authorities that he wanted to remain anonymous. The civil rights group Sikh Coalition also said in a press releases that he has chosen to remain anonymous.
But Swaraj, in a two-part tweet, wrote on Sunday morning at 1:39 am: “I am sorry to know about the attack on ________ a US national of Indian origin. I have spoken to Sardar Harpal Singh father of the victim./1
(The American Bazaar has chosen not to publish the victim’s name here, or publish the tweet.)
The second part of the tweet read: “He told me that his son had a bullet injury on his arm. He is out of danger and is recovering in a private hospital. /2”
Following the minister’s tweet, several news organizations have used the victim’s name in news stories.
Swaraj, an avid tweeter, frequently responds to global events and incidents through tweets.
“Since she took on the job two years ago, Sushma Swaraj, 64, has carved out an unlikely role for herself as a crusading Supermom of State, solving the problems of distressed Indians around the world who send her their concerns via Twitter,” the Washington Post wrote last August.
But she’s not without critics.
“Generous friend or reckless bully: Sushma Swaraj’s Twitter diplomacy is a dangerous tightrope walk,” Quartz India wrote in January.
The minister has an impressive 7.8 million followers.