Photo Credit: Representative Image

New York: In yet another merciless act of hate crime, a Sikh man was brutally assaulted in the United States by a white man, who kicked, punched and pulled the beard of the Sikh for not giving him rolling papers for cigarettes.

Twenty-four-year-old Andrew Ramsey wanted rolling papers from a convenience store in Oregon and since he did not have the mandatory identity proof, Harwinder Singh Dodd refused to sell it to him. Following that, Ramsey pulled his beard and punched Dodd in the face.

Ramsey “racially targeted” Dodd on the basis of his religion, FOX 12 reported citing a court document. When Ramsey was asked to leave the store, he pulled Dodd to the ground and kicked him, Justin Brecht, a legislative policy adviser in the Oregon State Capitol, was quoted as saying by the report, according to news agency PTI.

“Dodd was bleeding as he was mercilessly punched in the face…and kicked very brutally. It was very serious,” Brecht said.

The police have pressed charges of hate crime, disorderly conduct, criminal trespass and assault in the fourth degree on Ramsey, adding that the 24-year-old tried to steal Dodd’s turban and hurled a shoe at him.

According to a report, there has been a 45 per cent rise in hate crimes against Indians, especially Sikhs, and other South Asian Americans in 2018 as compared to the previous year.

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