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Sikhs Demand Justice for Family
Harassed by Harris
County Deputies
WSN Network
 HOUSTON:
It is learnt that Harris County police officers misbehaved with a
Sikh family whose home was burglarized in Houston last week.
Community leaders said the officers' behavior was akin to sending a
message to Sikhs and Muslims that they are second class citizens.
At the beginning
of the Thanksgiving weekend, the Tagore family came home to find a
window broken and their master bedroom ransacked. When they called
911 to report the crime,
Harris County
police officers were dispatched to investigate. But instead of
pursuing the thieves, the
police officers
began grilling a family member. Officers ordered Ms. Kawaljeet Kaur
to hand over her kirpan -- a religious article mandated by the Sikh
faith -- which she wore over her shoulder. Ms. Kaur offered to leave
the room if her kirpan made the officers uncomfortable, but to no
avail.
Instead, she,
along with her brother, mother and cousin, were handcuffed and led
into the street. Officers verbally abused them as they were
searched. An officer applied pressure to Ms. Kaur's back as she sat
on the ground. One officer asked the family whether they had "heard
about the
bombings in
Bombay"
while another told them that he "knew about Muslims."
Hours later, the
entire family was released without being arrested or charged.
"How can the
police stop us from practicing our religion in our own home?" asked
Ms. Kaur. "We called the police to help us. Instead, they humiliated
and harassed us. They handcuffed my 60-year-old mother in front of
my 8-year-old niece. They think they can get away with it because we
look different."
"What happened
at the Tagore home was shameful," said Amardeep Singh, Executive
Director of the Sikh Coalition. "Through a combination of violence,
racial prejudice and intimidation, the
Harris County
police turned innocent victims into perpetrators."
Sikh community
has demanded that the Harris County terminate four police officers
involved in the incident and issue a formal apology to the family.
10 December
2008
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