Amandeep Singh, an educator with the charity Basics of Sikhi, is proud of his community\u2019s deeply rooted place in British society.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a community that has properly been celebrated as one that is very successfully integrated into the British value system,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve worn kirpans for hundreds of years and since we\u2019ve been invited to settle in this country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But in the last few days, Singh continued, something had shifted for Sikhs across the UK in response to the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak by Vickrum Digwa, 23. \u201cAt least 15 people have been accosted on the streets by collectives of white individuals surrounding Sikhs and asking, \u2018Have you got a kirpan?\u2019, trying to stir up racial tensions.\u201d<\/p>\n
After recent incidents in which older Sikhs have had their turbans knocked off in racist assaults, many were fearful that the same might happen again, he said.<\/p>\n
Like Singh, other Sikh and anti-racist leaders have condemned the murder unequivocally, but also warned that inflammatory political rhetoric after the conviction was fuelling a backlash against the wider community.<\/p>\n
Digwa was sentenced on Monday to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years. When police arrived at the scene, he falsely claimed that Nowak had racially abused him and knocked off his turban, leading officers initially to arrest and handcuff the seriously injured teenager before they realised the extent of his injuries.<\/p>\n
In a joint statement, Sikh community groups condemned what they called \u201ca moment of madness\u201d by one individual, while stating that the wider Sikh community had since faced considerable abuse and hate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really feel for Henry\u2019s family,\u201d said Kuldeep Singh Deol, former president of Guru Nanak Gurdwara Smethwick and an IT consultant. \u201cThe wider Sikh community is really upset as things have unfolded. Last night the police bodycam footage came out and I think that\u2019s actually made things even more painful for everyone to take in.<\/p>\n
Henry Nowak. Photograph: Hampshire Police\/PA<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t representative of the Sikh community. This was one man.\u201d<\/p>\n
As well as widespread \u201cdisgust\u201d and \u201cbetrayal\u201d among the Sikh community at Nowak\u2019s killing, there were fears of what the political reaction could bring.<\/p>\n
The Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, has called for \u201cpure cold rage\u201d over the case, which has sparked widespread criticism.<\/p>\n
Under current law, practising Sikhs are permitted to carry a kirpan, a small curved blade worn as an article of faith, for religious purposes. But Reform UK have vowed to ban them if they get into government.<\/p>\n
The prosecution told the jury at Southampton crown court that while Digwa was wearing a small kirpan under his clothing around his neck, which met his religious obligation, he also chose to carry the much larger knife.<\/p>\n
The Crown Prosecution Service described both blades as kirpans and said the judge, who described the weapon Digwa was carrying as a \u201clarge Sikh dagger\u201d, accepted that assessment.<\/p>\n
But the Sikh Federation said the blade used by Digwa was not a kirpan, while the Sikh Press Association said plans were under way to ensure every initiated Sikh in the UK was addressed directly regarding kirpan rules and responsibilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kirpan basically means \u2018kirpa\u2019, meaning grace, and \u2018aan\u2019, meaning defence,\u201d Deol said. \u201cIt should never be used in anger. It should never be used to attack anyone. It\u2019s supposed to be there to protect the needy, protect those that are being attacked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sikhs were angered and saddened that Digwa\u2019s actions had cast a shadow over the wider community. \u201cThis person has brought the Sikh community into disrepute and we\u2019re really upset about that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI talk about the history, 150 to 200 years with the United Kingdom, and it\u2019s only taken one case. Some of the stuff that\u2019s coming out from politicians and some of the rightwing views are just really painful to read.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are already longstanding anxieties within the Sikh community across the country. According to the British Sikh Report 2025 released in January, 49% of surveyed Sikhs said they were worried about rising anti-Sikh sentiment, while 50% were concerned misinformation on social media could cause hostility towards Sikhs.<\/p>\n
Both Deol and Singh warned a ban against the kirpan would unfairly penalise the wider community, and reiterated that the weapon used was not one.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of that takes away from the senseless loss and violence that Henry and his family have gone through,\u201d Singh said.<\/p>\n
Jayanti Shah, an anti-racism campaigner and community organiser in Southampton, said the wider political climate had heightened concerns that cases like this would lead to collective blame of minority communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust because one person who is bad is from a particular religion or particular belief doesn\u2019t mean all of that religion and all of that belief should be condemned,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is not the whole community. All communities are not homogeneous.\u201d<\/p>\n
He warned that minority communities have already changed their behaviour \u2013 becoming more cautious in public \u2013 following the 2024 summer race riots.<\/p>\n
Singh said his grandfather was part of a wave of Sikhs to arrive in the UK during the 1920s and serve in the army. He was among several Sikh leaders to point to quotes by Winston Churchill praising the contribution of Sikhs to the war effort.<\/p>\n
Singh said the Sikh community had a clear message to the rest of the country: \u201cWe stand with you in condemning the horrible, grotesque violence that that young lad had to endure. We stand completely in solidarity with the British public at large. But please understand that those actions do not reflect the Sikh faith in any way.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s not just words. Our history confirms that. Our rich and dignified history confirms that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amandeep Singh, an educator with the charity Basics of Sikhi, is proud of his community\u2019s deeply rooted place…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-617398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}