In an obvious case of hate crime, a 17-year-old Sikh highschool scholar was assaulted at a bus cease after an altercation with one other teenager in Canada’s British Columbia province, in accordance with a media report on Thursday.
The incident occurred on Monday in Kelowna on the intersection of Rutland Street South and Robson Street East the place the highschool scholar was allegedly “kicked, punched and pepper-sprayed”, CTV information reported.
“Officers determined a 17-year-old Sikh student was either beer or pepper sprayed by another teenage male after exiting a public transit bus on his way home,” an announcement by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police mentioned.
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Earlier than the assault, there was “an altercation” aboard a bus, which resulted in these concerned being kicked off, police mentioned.
Whereas police haven’t launched extra particulars, the World Sikh Organisation of Canada has alleged that the scholar was additionally assaulted whereas aboard the automobile.
“Two individuals approached the student and first barred his entry onto the bus and then, once allowing him to board, began to threaten him with a lighter and photograph and record him from a close distance with their phones,” the CTV information report quoted the organisation’s assertion.
“Monday’s attack on a Sikh high school student in Kelowna is shocking and unacceptable,” Guntaas Kaur, WSO vice chairman for British Columbia was quoted as saying.
That is the second such occasion of violence in opposition to a Sikh youth using public transit within the metropolis this yr.
Earlier in March, a 21-year-old Sikh scholar from India, Gagandeep Singh, was attacked in British Columbia province by a bunch of unknown males who ripped off his turban and dragged him throughout the sidewalk by his hair.