UK: Muslim men attack 3 Hindus after asking about their ethnicity, British MP Bob Blackman calls out religious hatred but police claim ‘no racial motivation’
A case of religious hatred has come to light from London, United Kingdom, where three young Hindu men in their early 20s were brutally thrashed by some Muslim men in a public park on 30th May this year.
Among the victims, one was a British Indian Gujarati while the remaining two were Sri Lankan. The incident was raised by Tory MP Bob Blackman in the House of Commons on Thursday (12th June) calling it a case of religious hatred.
“Earlier this week, three young Indian boys were playing cricket in Headstone Park. They were approached by three men, slightly older. An altercation took place and the three young boys were hospitalised, one with a fractured eye socket. We understand that the police are dealing with it as an aggravated racial assault. This took place between young Hindu boys and older Muslim men,” Blackman said.
“If this type of religious hatred is going to come to this country, we desperately need the Home Secretary to make a clear statement about what the government is going to do to prevent this from happening,” the British MP added.
When Muslims attacked 3 Hindu men
The three young Hindu men, including a first-year radiography student, went to the Harrow Recreation Ground to play cricket on the day of the incident.
After some time, all three of them went to a nearby shop to buy some snacks and drinks. On their way to the shop, they passed by a café where a Muslim family of 7 to 8 members, including women wearing hijab, was sitting.
Somehow, the Muslim family had the wrong impression that the Hindu men looked at them. A male member of the Muslim family approached the Hindu men with aggression and questioned them why they were looking at the family. “What’s your problem? What are you looking at?” the Muslim man aggressively asked as reported by Insight UK.
To this the Hindu men calmly responded and said that they were looking back at their friends playing cricket in the park. “I’m sorry if you think we were looking at you, but we weren’t,” one of the Hindu men replied.
The situation was pacified and the Hindu men went back to the park and sat on a bench.
About half an hour later, three Muslim men from the same family approached the Hindu men in the park and asked them about their ethnicity.
“What are you? Where are you from, are you locals? Are you Indian? Are you Sri Lankan?” one of the Muslim men asked. One of the Hindu men responded with a yes. After this, the Muslim men began physically attacking them.
They launched blows after blows on the victims as they remained seated and unable to defend themselves. The attackers did not let the victims move away or get up and kept pushing them back down.
Two of the Hindu men received blows to the head which left them unconscious. Their friends who were playing cricket came running to help them. The injured were taken to the Northwick Park Hospital.
The sister of one of the victims told Times of India that the incident has seriously affected her brother who has never been involved in a fight before. The victim received a facial fracture and bruises.
She said that at the time of the incident, her brother was wearing a sacred thread from a temple on his wrist. She added that one of the attackers was wearing a Moroccan football T-shirt with number 2 and the word ‘Hakimi’ printed on it.
She expressed dissatisfaction with way the police are investigating the case. She said that the police did not examine the CCTV footage even two weeks after the incident.
Police deny ‘racial motivation’
In the meantime, the police have downplayed the religious hatred, racial motivation involved in the targeted attack
“There is no evidence at this time that this attack was racially motivated. Our enquiries into the circumstances continue. No arrests have been made,” a police spokesperson told TOI.
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