Hate crime charge against youth in New York attack on Sikh professor

New York, United States (April 20, 2014): It is learnt that a man accused of attacking a Sikh professor before a group of young men who had called the professor ‘Osama’ and a ‘terrorist’, has been arrested and charged with a hate crime on April 19.

Prabhjot Singh, Dr. [File Photo]

As per information Christian Morales, 20, was charged with aggravated harassment in connection with September 2012 attack on Columbia University professor Prabhjot Singh. It may be recalled that Prof. Prabhjot Singh had suffered a broken jaw.

It is notable that Prof. Prabhjot Singh had co-authored a 2012 op-ed in The New York Times accusing the federal government of failing to accurately measure the extent of hate related violence against the Sikhs in response to the August 2012 gun-attack at a Sikh Gurdwara in suburban Milwaukee in which 6 Sikh devotees were massacred by a white supremacist neo-Nazi.

In the op-ed, Prabhjot Singh and his co-author argued that it is wrong “to assume that every attack against a Sikh is really meant for a Muslim.” They said Sikhs have historically been targeted.