Sikh student mistaken for Muslim, abused and harassed at US store

November 20, 2016

Boston, Nov 20: A 22-year-old Sikh, studying at the prestigious Harvard Law School, was allegedly abused and harassed at a store near the campus by a man who mistook him for a Muslim. Harmann Singh, a first year law student at the university, said he was shopping in a store in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while speaking on the phone with his mother, when a man walked in and said to the clerk behind the counter, "Oh look, there's a (expletive) Muslim."sikh

"Over the weekend, I was confronted by a man who called me a '(expletive) Muslim' and followed me around a store aggressively asking where I was from, and and no one in the store said a thing. I was on the phone with my mom the entire time, and we were both concerned for my safety as this man stood inches away from me," Singh wrote about his experience in The Boston Globe.

"While deeply painful, what happened to me pales in comparison to the hate and violence many of my brothers and sisters have faced across the country," he wrote. According to Singh, the man started following him around the store, harassing him and asking him where he was from. Singh, who is from Buffalo, New York, said he tried to ignore the man and continue his conversation with his mother, who was worried.

She could hear the man questioning Singh and told her son to leave the shop. Singh said the man followed him to the checkout counter. "I told him, 'Hey I'm actually from New York. I live here now down the street. Is there anything I can do to help you?'" Singh said.

The man did not respond and Singh left the store as quickly as possible. He said the most effective way to help people who feel marginalised is to "be there for each other in these moments". A bystander who checks in with the person being harassed in any situation can make all the difference, he said.

The owner of the store told Boston.com that he was going back and forth between the back and front of the shop at the time of the incident that took place on November 11 and saw the man who spoke to Singh come in. He said he had planned to ask the man to leave, but went to the back of the store when the incident occurred. Both Singh and the other man were gone when he returned.

He said he was shocked and sorry when his clerk told him what happened. "I don't know where that guy came from and I hope I don't see him again," said the owner, who did not want to be named. Over 200 incidents of hateful harassment and intimidation across the US have been reported since Donald Trump won the presidential election.

Comments

Wellwisher
 - 
Sunday, 20 Nov 2016

Dear All,
This not strange, if we go through the history ftom past 70yrs to till now
White skins are always with same mentlaity. Major part of their weslth are looted one.What Britishers done with India what america is doing now. We should depend on these kind of pepole or with their nation. We have to stick with give respect and take respect policy and nothing more than that.
Hope the Indian community will stand togther to fight against such incidents for the future without looking cast.
Jai Hind!

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coastaldigest.com web desk
May 25,2020

Mangaluru, May 25: D V Sadananda Gowda, Union Minister for Chemical and Fertilizer, has once again written to the Ministry of External Affairs urging to take steps to operate more repatriation flights from Gulf countries to Karnataka. 

In his second letter in 10 days addressed to Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Union Minister for External Affairs, expressed regret over not giving due priority for the repatriation of Kannadigas in the middle east during the extended second phase of Vande Bharat Mission. 

"I shall be grateful if you could personally intervene and instuct the concerned in arranging flights to Mangaluru and Bengaluru from Gulf countries in existing schedule itself," Mr Gowda urged Mr Jayashankar. 

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News Network
June 28,2020

Mangaluru, Jun 28: In an attempt to curb fast spreading Coronavirus and to bring discipline among the public to follow the guidelines and also as it was found difficult to control the visitors, the City Corporation Mayor Diwakar has ordered closure of the office for one week with immediate effect from Monday.

Public will be banned from entering the MCC building for a period of one week from Monday, he said.

In a circular the Mayor has requested the public to co-operate and help the administration to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

However, a help desk will be set up outside the MCC building where people can submit their applications and requests.

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News Network
May 26,2020

Newsroom, May 26: A migrant worker died of hunger while a 10-month-old boy suffering from fever and breathing difficulties died negligence in two separate incidents onboard Shramik Special trains in Uttar Pradesh.

The 46-year-old dead migrant worker’s nephew, who was accompanying him, said that the victim had not eaten anything in the last 60 hours.

Raveesh Yadav said that no food or water was provided on the train, which they had boarded from Mumbai to travel to their native place in Jaunpur district in Uttar Pradesh.

Yadav and his uncle were working as construction workers in Mumbai.

Yadav told the paper that the train had left the Lokmanya Terminal in Mumbai, at 7pm on May 20 and arrived at its final stop, Varanasi Cantonment station, at 7.30am on May 23.

“But my uncle, who was complaining of hunger and pain all over his body, fainted half an hour before we reached Varanasi Cantonment and died within a few minutes,” Raveesh was quoted as saying.

He added that he and his uncle were hungry when they boarded the train but could not find food or water to buy.

Railways’ apathy

Meanwhile, the family of 10 month old child, who died in the train, alleged that the railways did not arrange for a doctor despite their repeated pleas.

The railway doctors had been moved to Covid-19 hospitals and by the time a doctor was provided at Tundla railway station, it was too late, the report quoted the child's grandfather, Dev Lal, as saying.

Lal said that the family members had tried to speak to the GRP at many stations, including at Aligarh, where the train had halted. "But they showed no interest and said any help would be available only in Tundla,” Lal said.

Railways officials then took the kin to a quarantine centre in Tundla, as they suspected that the baby had died because of the novel coronavirus.  It was only on Monday that the incident came to light when another individual at the quarantine facility intimated journalists after the condition of the child's mother worsened.

Last November, the mother of the child, Priyanka Devi of Bihar's Notan village in West Champaran, had gone to visit her parents who reside in Noida with the baby, who was then just four months old. Her husband Pramod Kumar is a farmer, the report added.

Comments

andh bakth
 - 
Tuesday, 26 May 2020

Vote for BJP and you need only hindutva dont worry about food, job etc.......jai modiji

very sad for baby:(

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