New York: A Sikh man has been stabbed to death at his store in the US state of New Jersey, the third incident targeting the minority Sikh community in the country in three weeks. Terlok Singh was discovered dead by his cousin last week in his store with an apparent stab wound in the chest. The Essex County Prosecutor’s office is calling the incident a homicide, according to a report in ABC7NY. The motive behind the killing was not immediately known.
Singh is survived by his wife and children who live in India. He owned the store to support his family. The report said Singh ran his store for at least six years and a neighbour said he should not have had to worry about being attacked in his work place. Civil rights organisation, the Sikh Coalition, in a Facebook post, expressed condolences to Singh’s family, friends and local community.
Simran Jeet Singh, a visiting scholar at New York University’s Center for Religion and Media and a Senior Religion Fellow for the Sikh Coalition, tweeted about Singh’s tragic death, saying “this is the third attack on a Sikh in the last three weeks. So tired of all this sadness”. On August 6 in Manteca, California, Sahib Singh, 71, was brutally attacked by Tyrone McAllister and a juvenile when the elderly man went on a morning walk.
On July 31, Surjit Malhi, 50, was attacked while putting up campaign signs in support of incumbent Republican Congressman Jeff Denham and other local Republican candidates. Following the incidents, the Sikh Coalition had urged members of the community to know their rights, remain vigilant and report cases of bias, bigotry and backlash.
