India seeks justice for attacked Sikh taxi driver in NYC, US vows action

Terming the assault on a Sikh taxi driver
at the JFK International Airport “deeply disturbing”, the Indian Consulate
General in New York urged the United States authorities to take action against
the assailant.

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A 26-second video uploaded by Navjot Pal
Kaur on Twitter on January 4 showed a man assaulting the Sikh taxi driver
outside the airport. 

“This video was taken by a bystander at
John F Kennedy International Airport. I do not own the rights to this video.
But I just wanted to highlight the fact that hatred continues to remain in our
society and unfortunately, I’ve seen Sikh cab drivers get assaulted again and
again,” Kaur tweeted.

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“The assault against a Sikh taxi driver in
New York is deeply disturbing. We have taken up the matter with US authorities
and urged them to investigate this violent incident,” the Consulate General of
India in New York tweeted on Saturday.

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After the Indian Consulate lodged a formal
protest with the US authorities, the State Department condemned the incident,
terming it “deeply disturbing”. The State Department also said that
diversity makes the US stronger.

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“We are deeply disturbed by reports of
an apparent attack on a Sikh cab driver at J.F.K. airport, captured on video
last week. Our diversity makes the U.S. stronger, & we condemn any form of
hate-based violence,” the official Twitter account of the State Department
for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs posted.

“We all have a responsibility to hold
perpetrators of hate crimes accountable for their actions,” the State
Department said, before adding that it will investigate the incident and hold
the perpetrators accountable.

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“We all have a responsibility to hold
perpetrators of hate crimes accountable for their actions, no matter where such
crimes occur,” the department said in a tweet.

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It must be noted that it is not the first
time a Sikh taxi driver has been assaulted in the US. An Indian-origin Sikh
Uber driver was assaulted and racially abused in the US state of Washington in
a suspected hate crime in 2019.