Los Angeles: An 82-year-old Sikh man who was brutally assaulted outside a gurdwara in California in 2013 is still awaiting justice with a third delay in sentencing of the accused who reportedly mistook him to be a Muslim.
Piara Singh was attacked outside the gurdwara in Fresno, California, in May , 2013 where he was preparing free meals for the homeless. He suffered a punctured lung and head injuries and was left lying in a pool of blood.
Two years later, members of Singh's Sikh community say that while his physical wounds have healed, they are still waiting for closure in the case because of a third delay in sentencing, ABC news reported. The assailant, Gilbert Garcia Jr, who was 29 at the time of the incident, was initially charged with attempted murder but later admitted elder abuse and a hate crime.
And as they wait for Garcia to at last be sentenced, community advocate Ike Grewal said that the attack was all the more troubling because it is believed the attacker confused Singh for a radical Muslim.“The Sikhs have been attacked all over the US after 911 and this is not acceptable because we have been mistaken as radicals when we are not,“ Grewal said. Singh's nephew Charanjit Sihota had said in 2013 that police told him that Garcia was arrested afetr he shouted that he hated “those people“ and wanted to bomb their places of worship.
