Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

MP Preet Kaur Gill calls for 'urgent action' over anti-Sikh hate crimes

The Labour MP also referenced the recent case of a British Sikh community leader and priest, Avtar Gill.

MP Preet Kaur Gill calls for 'urgent action' over anti-Sikh hate crimes

Preet Kaur Gill, a British Sikh member of Parliament for the Opposition Labour Party, has written to UK ministers calling for “urgent action” over a spike in anti-Sikh hate crimes in the country.

In her role as Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Sikhs, Gill has written a joint letter to Indian-origin Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Communities Secretary Simon Clarke pointing to recent Home Office statistics on hate crimes for the year-ending March 2022.


“I am deeply concerned by these new statistics. 301 hate crimes against Sikhs were reported in 2021-22, up from 112 in 2020. The 169% increase is compared to a 38% increase in reported religious hate crimes overall,” she writes in her letter, posted on Twitter on Monday.

“I am writing therefore to ask that you take urgent action to reverse this alarming trend and protect the Sikh community by implementing the recommendations of the APPG reports, specifically regarding the i) term ii) definition and iii) support for anti-Sikh hate crime reporting,” she said.

The Labour MP also referenced the recent case of a British Sikh community leader and priest, Avtar Gill, who was brutally attacked in June while walking home in Manchester and remains in hospital with life-changing injuries. Last week, his attacker was jailed for three years after pleading guilty to the assault.

“This was a horrific attack of a much loved family member and community leader which deeply shocked the public,” Detective Inspector Mark Astbury from Greater Manchester Police said after the verdict at Manchester Crown Court.

The 2021-22 Home Office statistics released last week showed a record high in hate crimes, with anti-Muslim or Islamophobic cases at the highest among religious hate crimes at 3,459 cases reported during the period, followed by anti-Jewish or antisemitic crimes at 1,919 cases. There were 701 anti-Christian and 161 cases of anti-Hindu hate crimes reported in the same period.

Overall, 156,000 offences were recorded by police across England and Wales in 2021-22, considered the biggest annual jump since the Brexit referendum in June 2016. Racially-motivated crimes accounted for 70 per cent of offences, followed by sexual orientation (17 per cent), disability (9 per cent), religion (6 per cent) and transgender identity (3 per cent).

The number of hate crimes recorded has been on the rise in recent years, a trend the Home Office believes is likely to have been “mainly driven by improvements in crime recording by the police”.

Hate crime in Britain is defined as any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic.

(PTI)

More For You

Parliament backs assisted dying in historic law shift

Supporters of the assisted dying law for terminally ill people hold a banner, on the day British lawmakers are preparing to vote on the bill, in London, Britain, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes

Parliament backs assisted dying in historic law shift

PARLIAMENT voted on Friday (20) in favour of a bill to legalise assisted dying, paving the way for the country's biggest social change in a generation.

314 lawmakers voted in favour with 291 against the bill, clearing its biggest parliamentary hurdle.

Keep ReadingShow less
Air India

An Air India Airbus A320-200 aircraft takes off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad, India, July 7, 2017. Picture taken July 7, 2017.

Regulator warns Air India over delayed emergency equipment checks: Report

INDIA’s aviation regulator has warned Air India for violating safety rules after three of its Airbus aircraft operated flights without undergoing mandatory checks on emergency escape slides, according to official documents reviewed by Reuters.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued warning notices and a detailed investigation report highlighting the breach. These documents were sent days before the recent crash of an Air India Boeing 787-8, in which all but one of the 242 people onboard were killed. The Airbus incidents are unrelated to that crash.

Keep ReadingShow less
assisted dying bill

Pro and anti-assisted dying campaigners protest ahead of a parliamentary decision later today, on June 20, 2025 in London.

Getty Images

MPs to vote on assisted dying bill amid divided views

UK MPs are set to hold a key vote on assisted dying on Friday, which could either advance or halt a proposed law that would allow terminally ill adults to end their lives under strict conditions.

The vote follows several hours of debate in the House of Commons and will decide whether the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill moves to the House of Lords for further scrutiny or is dropped altogether.

Keep ReadingShow less
Zhenhao Zou

Zhenhao Zou, 28, was jailed on Thursday after being found guilty of multiple offences. (Photo: Reuters)

Reuters

Chinese student jailed for life for raping women in UK and China

A CHINESE postgraduate student convicted of drugging and raping 10 women in the UK and China has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a London court.

Zhenhao Zou, 28, was jailed on Thursday after being found guilty of multiple offences. Police say there is evidence he may have targeted more than 50 other women.

Keep ReadingShow less
Air India cuts international flights after deadly crash

Mother (C) of First Officer Clive Kunder, co-pilot of the Air India plane that crashed in Ahmedabad last week, mourns after his mortal remains were brought to his residence, in Mumbai. (PTI Photo)

Air India cuts international flights after deadly crash

AIR INDIA said on Wednesday (18) it will cut international operations on its widebody aircraft by 15 per cent for the next few weeks, citing ongoing safety inspections and operational disruptions following last week's deadly crash of one of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

Authorities continue to investigate the crash of flight AI171, which killed 241 people and marked the world's deadliest aviation disaster in a decade.

Keep ReadingShow less