A 55-year-old Sikh man who owned a grocery store in New Jersey was stabbed to death in his deli last week, making it the third attack on the Sikh community in the US in the last three weeks.
The man who has been identified as Tarlok Singh was discovered dead by his cousin at the the Park Deli & Grocery in East Orange city in Essex County on Thursday morning, with a deep wound in his chest.
While a motive behind the incident has not yet been established, the regional medical examiner has ruled the death a homicide, according to a statement issued by the Essex County Prosecutor’s office.
Mr Singh, whose family lives in India, had been running the store for the past six years.
Prior to this, five other Indian Americans or Indian citizens have been reportedly killed inside a convenience store in different parts of the United States, since 2015.
Mr Singh’s attack comes just days after two Sikhs were assaulted in separate incidents in the state of California.
Sahib Singh Natt Source: Facebook
On August 6th, 71-year-old Sahib Singh Natt was walking along a park in Manteca when two assailants tried to rob him.
The entire incident was caught on a CCTV and showed that when the 71-year-old resisted. Mr Natt fought back, but the suspects again knocked him to the ground and kicked him repeatedly before finally leaving him there.
Two teenagers were arrested in the case, including the 18-year-old estranged son of the local police chief.
While in another incident that occurred on July 31st, 50-year-old Surjit Singh Mallhi was assaulted by two men while he was putting up political signs for US Representative Jeff Denham in Modesto area of California.
Surjit Singh Malhi Source: The Modesto Bee
The assailants also yelled racist slurs telling him: “You’re not welcome here” and “Go back to your country” and spray painted a racist message "Go back to your country” on his truck.
Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.
The United States is home to nearly one million Sikhs who have faced an increasing number of incidents of hate crimes since the September 11 attacks.
A photo of the truck shared on social media by a friend of the victim's daughter. Source: Facebook
Former Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, Sukhbir Singh Badal who has been urging the Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, to take up the issue of emerging hate crimes against Sikhs with the US government, has once again appealed to the minister to escalate the matter.
According to a Sikh advocacy group, Sikh Coalition, Sikhs living in the US experience an average of one hate crime every week.
According to figures released by FBI, over 6,000 hate crimes, including violence against Indian Americans was reported in 2016, which revealed about a five percent increase in the number of such cases from 2015.
