The incident took place outside JFK International Airport.
New Delhi:
The United States today has condemned assaulting a Sikh taxi driver at JFK International Airport called it “extremely disturbing”. The State Department believes that diversity makes America stronger.
“We are deeply concerned by reports of an apparent attack on a Sikh taxi driver at JFK Airport, captured on video last week. Our diversity makes America. become stronger and we condemn all forms of hate-based violence,” posted the State Department’s official Twitter account for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.
1/2 We are deeply concerned by reports of an apparent attack on a Sikh taxi driver at JFK airport, which was captured on video last week. Our diversity makes America stronger, and we condemn all forms of hate-based violence.
– State_SCA (@State_SCA) January 9, 2022
Emphasizing that no matter where such crimes occur, the State Department said, “We all have a responsibility to hold those who perpetrate hate crimes accountable for their actions.”
Feedback is given after Consulate General of India in New York urges US authorities to investigate the matter.
An unidentified 26-second video posted on Twitter by Navjot Pal Kaur on January 4, shows a man assaulting a Sikh taxi driver outside the airport.
Ms Kaur said in a tweet that the video was taken by a bystander at the airport.
The person may be accused of using profanity against the victim. He kept hitting and punching him and knocking off his turban.
“This video was shot by a bystander at John F Kennedy International Airport. I don’t own the copyright to this video. But I just wanted to emphasize the fact that hatred continues to exist in the world. our society and unfortunately I have seen Sikh taxi drivers being assaulted again and again,” Ms Kaur wrote on Twitter.
The US State Department has said that it will investigate the incident and hold the perpetrators accountable.
“We all have a responsibility to hold perpetrators of hate crimes accountable for their actions, no matter where such crimes occur,” the ministry said in a tweet.
This is not the first time a Sikh taxi driver has been assaulted in the US.
In 2019, an Indian Sikh Uber driver was assaulted and racially abused in the US state of Washington in a suspected hate crime.
The driver told police he believes his racing spurred the attack.
In 2017, a 25-year-old Sikh taxi driver in New York was assaulted and his turban knocked over by a drunk passenger.
