A video of the brutal attack shows shocking footage of a teenaged girl attacking an 80-year-old Sikh man in the British city of Coventry
The footage shows the pony-tailed girl, accompanied by three young males, kicking and knocking down the elderly person, who reportedly hails from the Canley neighbourhood of the city.
Authorities in Britain have arrested a 19-year-old girl for the violent assault on the Sikh man, which left him with a bloodied nose and a black eye.
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According to the Coventry Telegraph, the incident took place on Trinity Street in Coventry city centre around 8.30 p.m. Aug 10.
The girl was dressed in black and was wearing a pair of Converse shoes.
The attack took place in full view of passers-by with nobody intervening.
According to the Telegraph report, the girl also spat on the victim and verbally abused him.
Only one person came out to help - and that too after the girl and her companions had left the scene - as he picked up the Sikh man's turban that was also knocked off.
Police in that city in the British West Midlands are treating the incident as malicious wounding, a crime that carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.
Meanwhile, there has been angry reactions to the incident in social media.
“The Sikh turban is not just a piece of cloth, but a crown bestowed upon us by our great leader... I hope these cowards are caught and punished fairly,” Ajay Singh was cited as writing.
“If that was my daughter I would drag her to the police station let her face up to this disgraceful act,” wrote Amadine Ambrico.
Indian government condemns attack
The apparent racial attack on an elderly Sikh man in Britain was "intolerable" and the British government should ensure the strictest punishment to the guilty, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said while speaking on the sidelines of a function in New Delhi on Monday.
"The Sikh community has contributed a lot to the development of those countries where they have settled, and especially to Britain, where Sikhs are present in fairly large numbers for over a century," Tewari said, when asked for a reaction to the incident.
"Racial behaviour is completely intolerable," Tewari said, adding that if the British government did not act against the guilty person, a "very negative signal (would go out) to not just that community but other minorities too".
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