17-year-old Sikh high school student assaulted in Canada in apparent hate crime

In an apparent case of hate crime, a 17-year-old Sikh high school student was assaulted at a bus stop after an altercation with another teenager in Canada’s British Columbia province, according to a media report on Thursday.

The incident took place on Monday in Kelowna at the intersection of Rutland Road South and Robson Road East where the high school student was allegedly “kicked, punched and pepper-sprayed”, CTV news 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,” said a statement by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Before the assault, there was “an altercation” aboard a bus, which resulted in those involved being kicked off, said the police.

While police have not released more details, the World Sikh Organisation of Canada has alleged that the student was also assaulted while aboard the vehicle.

“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 news report quoted the organisation’s statement.

“Monday’s attack on a Sikh high school student in Kelowna is shocking and unacceptable,” Guntaas Kaur, WSO vice-president for British Columbia was quoted as saying.

This is the second such instance of violence against a Sikh youth riding public transit in the city this year.

Earlier in March, a 21-year-old Sikh student from India, Gagandeep Singh, was attacked in British Columbia province by a group of unidentified men who ripped off his turban and dragged him across the sidewalk by his hair.

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