🔗 Share this article

Female members of the Sikh community across the Midlands are describing how a series of religiously motivated attacks has created widespread fear within their community, compelling some to “completely alter” about their daily routines.

Series of Attacks Causes Fear

Two sexual assaults of Sikh women, each in their twenties, occurring in Walsall and Oldbury, have come to light during the last several weeks. A 32-year-old man faces charges related to a religiously aggravated rape in relation to the alleged Walsall attack.

These events, along with a brutal assault on two elderly Sikh taxi drivers from Wolverhampton, led to a parliamentary gathering in late October concerning bias-motivated crimes targeting Sikhs within the area.

Ladies Modifying Habits

An advocate working with a women’s aid group in the West Midlands explained that women were altering their daily routines to protect themselves.

“The fear, the now complete changing of your day-to-day living, that is real. I have not seen that before,” she noted. “For the first time since establishing Sikh Women’s Aid, women have expressed: ‘We’ve ceased pursuing our passions out of fear for our safety.’”

Females felt “uneasy” going to the gym, or taking strolls or jogs currently, she mentioned. “They participate in these endeavors together. They update loved ones on their location.”

“An assault in Walsall will frighten females in Coventry since it’s within the Midlands,” she explained. “There has definitely been a shift in the way women think about their own safety.”

Community Responses and Precautions

Sikh gurdwaras throughout the Midlands have started providing personal safety devices to females to help ensure their security.

In a Walsall temple, a devoted member remarked that the incidents had “altered everything” for the Sikh community there.

Notably, she expressed she was anxious going to the gurdwara on her own, and she cautioned her elderly mother to be careful while answering the door. “We’re all targets,” she declared. “Anyone can be attacked day or night.”

A different attendee explained she was implementing additional safety measures while commuting to her job. “I attempt to park closer to the transit hub,” she commented. “I play paath [prayer] in my earpieces at minimal volume, ensuring I remain aware of traffic and my environment.”

Generational Fears Resurface

A mother of three remarked: “We go for walks, the girls and I, and it just feels very unsafe at the moment with all these crimes.

“We’ve never thought about taking these precautions before,” she said. “I’m looking over my shoulder constantly.”

For an individual raised in the area, the mood echoes the discrimination endured by elders back in the 70s and 80s.

“We lived through similar times in the 80s as our mothers passed the community center,” she reflected. “Extremist groups would occupy that space, spitting, using slurs, or siccing dogs on them. Irrationally, I’m reverting to that mindset. I believe that period is nearly here again.”

A local councillor echoed this, saying people felt “we’ve gone back in time … where there was a lot of open racism”.

“Individuals are afraid to leave their homes,” she declared. “People are scared to wear the artefacts of their religion; turbans or head coverings.”

Official Responses and Reassurances

City officials had provided extra CCTV near temples to ease public concerns.

Authorities announced they were conducting discussions with public figures, ladies’ associations, and community leaders, along with attending religious sites, to discuss women’s safety.

“This has been a challenging period for residents,” a senior officer told a temple board. “Everyone merits a life free from terror in their community.”

Local government stated it had been “actively working alongside the police with the Sikh community and our communities more widely to provide support and reassurance”.

One more local authority figure stated: “Everyone was stunned by the horrific event in Oldbury.” She noted that officials cooperate with law enforcement through a security alliance to combat aggression towards females and bias-driven offenses.