Current Events
Young Sikh-Briton Girls Being Preyed Upon by Predators
ZACK ADESINA
Six men were jailed at Leicester Crown Court in the United Kingdom last week for offences including facilitating child prostitution. The convictions are being heralded as a legal landmark because it is the first high-profile case involving a Sikh victim of sexual abuse, which has led to convictions in the UK.
[There are reports that sexual grooming of young Sikh girls by Muslim gangs has now reached epidemic proportions. It is feared that it is an orchestrated move by certain Muslim fundamentalist groups in Britain seeking easy conversions.]
However, BBC has uncovered evidence that there are potentially dozens of other young Sikh victims of sexual exploitation and few of these cases have come to court.
The Sikh Awareness Society (SAS), a charity which focuses on family welfare, claims it has investigated more than 200 reports of such child sexual grooming in the UK over the past five years.
However, there are no official statistics to support this claim, because incidents of sexual abuse featuring Sikh minors are rarely reported to the authorities.
According to Det Supt David Sandall of Leicestershire Police, "when it comes to faith-based communities, sexual abuse is woefully under-reported. We know it is going on but it is difficult to launch investigations when the victims and their families are refusing to talk.
"We want more victims to come forward because we are here to help."
The reason Sikhs rarely reveal incidents of abuse to the authorities has to do with family honour.
"Our community is very honour based," says Mohan Singh of the SAS.
As part of this code of honour, virginity before marriage is sacrosanct in Indian communities.
For girls in particular, in order to ensure they can get married and maintain dignity in the community, their virtue must remain unquestionable.
So when cases of abuse occur "the majority of parents just want to shut up shop as if nothing has happened because they know that a girl who is tarnished with this kind of thing will never actually get married," says Mohan Singh.
GROWING CONCERN
In fact the stigma around sexual abuse is so detrimental to a Sikh girl's future that children who are the victims of rape have been told by their own parents to keep quiet about it.
BBC has spoken to a girl whose own mother told her not to go to the police, even though she had been subjected to sexual abuse by countless men.
Fifteen-year old Jaswinder was under the control of a groomer for nearly two years.
The man charged countless other men to have sex with her and took obscene pictures which he used to blackmail her into silence.
When she finally broke away and told her mother what had happened, she was warned against going to the police and forbidden from ever telling her father the full details.
Other victims of grooming have been removed from the family home in order to ensure the wider community does not find out or to place the child safely away from those who are abusing her.
But these methods of dealing with child victims of sexual abuse are causing growing concern amongst mental health workers.
Counsellor Emma Kenny says that, over the past few years, she has noticed the number of Sikh girls requiring help after enduring sexual abuse is on the rise.
"We have cases where Sikh children have actually been forbidden from speaking up or removed from their home environment when they talk about the fact they are being sexually exploited or groomed," she says.
"Parents may be doing these things out of the best intentions but the problem here is that firstly, by telling the child to keep quiet, they will not get a chance to recover from the ordeal.
"Secondly, removing them from the home, from their original support network, gives a very strong message that they are the problem and that can lead to enormous long-standing emotional and psychological issues."
BBC has also discovered that groomers are actually exploiting the fact that Sikh families are less likely to report incidents of abuse.
The programme has spoken to one man who recently broke away from a grooming gang and is now campaigning for greater awareness of the problem.
He says there are groomers who specifically target Sikh girls because they feel they can get away with it.
They see Sikh girls as 'easy targets' because they know codes of honour mean the child will be too scared and ashamed to tell their parents about the abuse and "their parents would not even report it if they were to find out".
POLICE SENSITIVITY
Yet even when some Sikh parents are brave enough to risk family honour and do report incidents of sexual grooming to the police, there are concerns that their cases are poorly investigated.
Deputy Children's Commissioner for England Sue Berelowitz, admits that "there is quite a way to go in terms of police forces around the country waking up to the fact that there are ethnic minority victims of sexual abuse".
Birmingham parents Gurmeet and Ranjit believe their daughter, Javeen, has been the target of a group of groomers since she was 12 years old.
They claim that they have struggled to get the police to proactively investigate.
"I've lost count of the amount of times I've tried contacting them," says Ranjit.
"There have been incidents where we have rang several times a day to get information and they've just had a blasé attitude."
Jim Gamble, the former chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, has witnessed similar problems with other cases.
"I have seen victims who have not been well served because of police sensitivity about engaging a community whose tradition is all about honour and shame," he says.
"That sensitivity can be overplayed and I think in those cases where it is, perhaps police and other statuary authorities pause for too long.
"But in the end we need to get over these cultural misunderstandings because what ultimately matters is the safety and welfare of the children."
Some names have been changed to protect the identities of victims.
[Courtesy: BBC. Edited for sikhchic.com]
September 3, 2013
Conversation about this article
1: Harshpal (India), September 03, 2013, 8:39 AM.
And you still keep Sikhs and Muslims on the same side while talking about minority rights anywhere. This is the same community whose prayer places were protected by the Sikhs during the London riots. And this is what they are giving in return! Problem is not with them but with us; we sometimes become too naive in expecting decency from those who don't seem to have any.
2: SSN (USA), September 03, 2013, 8:59 AM.
The elephant in the room - the religion of Islam, the word "kafir" and the way Muslim men see all women. News reports of Muslim rape gangs (especially in Europe) have been in the media at least since 2011.
3: Karam Singh (New Delhi, India), September 03, 2013, 9:07 AM.
Harshpal ji (#1): Muslims there, Hindus here ... and our own fair-share of scoundrels within the community. These are a fact of life. We need to be ever-vigilant over two things: a) we remain ever alert and prepared, and never let our guard down, while refraining from becoming isolated; and b) we nevertheless do not allow ourselves to lower ourselves to their level; our principles and values must be zealously guarded as well. Otherwise, we might as well join the riff-raff.
4: Harshpal (India), September 03, 2013, 9:58 AM.
@Karam Singh ji - Why is it that a community that delivered justice to the Indian sub-continent by getting rid from the invaders of the west is now looking upon others for getting justice? Be it 1984, or cases like the above, why is it that we have sealed our own lips and tried to avoid the matter? Be it India or abroad, we have tried to shy away from the issues that we face as a community. We no more belong to the same community which gave us our Gurus, Hari Singh Nalua, Bhagat Singh ... Jews also faced troubles as a community but they didn't shy away from problems, particularly in the recent past. They explained to the world what they faced and demanded justice even from Germany for its atrocities. And where are we as Sikhs? For any young Sikh it is more easy to demand Khalistan than study at a higher level, become a professional and then be a part of the system for demanding justice from this country. Whereas Jews delivered hundreds of doctors, engineers, media persons, and used their collective power in favour of the community. What is the problem with us?
5: Gurmeet Kaur (Atlanta, Georgia, USA), September 03, 2013, 10:17 AM.
There is something seriously wrong from the parenting perspective as well, if 12-year-olds are left to care for themselves when falling into such traps. I can understand that oftentimes both parents have to work but why are the kids not in supervised after-school programs and why are they hanging out without adult supervision? Until the kids are adults and moved out of homes, parents have the right (along with the responsibility) to choose how and where they spend their time in order to protect them. Our children are the biggest assets we have - how can we discard them to undergo such trauma?
6: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), September 03, 2013, 10:24 AM.
I must admit this article horrified, disgusted and sickened me so much that I was unable to sleep when I first read it last night. For how long have British Sikhs claimed that Muslim men were targeting their girls using photos as blackmail to force them into marriage? How long were British Sikhs trying to make the public aware of the fact that their girls were being targeted? And now this has happened. It is not fair to paint all Muslims bad for the actions of some Pakistanis. When it comes to basic human decency, Pakistanis seem to be the poster child community, around the world and especially in the UK. What I want to know is how come nothing was done about this by the Sikh community in the UK? With the exposure of the scale of this horrible situation, it most likely would have been an open secret. How could the Sikh community in the UK fail their women and children? Will the British public now understand that Pakistanis targeting Sikh girls is a real thing? It is not an issue of "our woman went off with a criminal", it is an issue of "our woman was carried off by a criminal."
7: Harmeet Singh (USA), September 03, 2013, 10:26 AM.
It is unfortunate that we as a society have preserved this tribalism of "honor" based on virginity of girls before marriage. Not only is this sexual repression of women, but it allows parents to continue to blame their girls after these girls are exploited because of the very tribalistic values their parents follow. Can't we see, these girls are being made victims because of the parental values followed by our society?
8: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), September 03, 2013, 10:28 AM.
This article states that the Sikh girls were falling victims because of the concept of honour (izzat). However it seems to have been written by a non-South Asian and misses the main scope of the point. Does Pakistani culture not have a similar culture of izzat? So why were Pakistani girls not being targeted as well? Sikh girls fill the fantasy of having a Punjabi woman while at the same time fills the superiority complex of having sexual intercourse with a kafir. For these monsters, it is the best of both worlds. This is an important aspect of these crimes which seems to have been missed. These crimes are fueled in part by religion.
9: Mohan Singh (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), September 03, 2013, 10:36 AM.
No surprise this is going on all over since many years, and in a number of different ways. We Sikhs believe in 'sarbat da bhalla' They say, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Incidentally in Quebec, Sikhs wanted to save the Muslim veil (burka), but lost on the issue of the kirpan!
10: Sarbjit Singh (Jalandhar, Punjab), September 03, 2013, 11:35 AM.
While the criminals should no doubt be pursued and dealt with, with the full force of the law, the girls and their families are to be blamed too. If they lived within Sikhi and not give in to bizarre non-Sikh ideas, practices and values, they wouldn't find themselves in this position.
11: N Singh (Canada), September 03, 2013, 11:55 AM.
This has been going on for many years. Over 35 years ago, I remember my parents reading me an article in the Punjabi paper "Desh Pardesi" highlighting this same issue and warning parents of the danger in Britain. Over the years Sikh groups have been discussing this issue with the police but the police have refused to recognize that it was a problem until Muslim groups started to groom white girls and use them as sex-slaves and prostitutes. There have been some high profile cases quite recently involving white girls as young as 12 and the use of horrific violence against them. Hence this article acknowledging that this is also a problem for the Sikh community.
12: Kulwant Singh (U.S.A.), September 03, 2013, 2:16 PM.
All the blame goes to the parents of these girls. First, you let your children wander off the right path. Then you tell your children not to go to the authorities, which lets the predators get away and target someone else's children. It seems we have left India, but we have not left the desi psyche behind. These predators are using that psyche against you.
13: Ravinder Singh Khalsa (USA), September 03, 2013, 2:22 PM.
We have to look after our own, that's the bottom line. "Sarbat da bhalla" means we believe in the welfare of all, but doesn't mean we bend over backwards to support everyone's desires ... at the expense of those we have the express duty to support and protect. Most of the world is aware that there is fundamentally something wrong with these fundamentalists and their ways.
14: Inni Kaur (Fairfield, Connecticut, USA), September 03, 2013, 5:15 PM.
I hesitate as I write this. Please take it in the spirit it is written. Many of you may know that I work closely with Sikh children in the US. The last few years, I have noticed a disturbing trend. Our children, particularly the girls, are saying, "I just want to put it out there that the Muslim boys are so out there ... They have so much confidence ... Their attitude is whatever." These comments are being made in my confidence building session. What is equally disturbing is that their peers are nodding in agreement. Our boys seem to be in agreement. Questions: Why have I begun paying close attention to this? Is this a new trend? Has it been happening and I have been clueless about it? Or have the children become more relaxed with me and therefore are saying what they truly feel? I really don't know. Nor do I have any answers. But as somehow who is deeply connected with the community, I am very concerned. This is not the case of Muslim bashing. This is being aware of what is happening around us. I am sharing this with the sangat with the hope that we pay careful attention to the subtle message that the children send us. I truly hope that I am wrong with what I am observing.
15: G C Singh (USA), September 03, 2013, 6:30 PM.
The main reason for the humilating plight of Sikhs in general and Sikh women in particular is the lack of political and military power in our own hands. Our institutions and our fountainheads in India are controlled by our enemies and their approved turbaned collaborators. If Sikhs were strong, these criminals dare not even dream about doing something like this to Sikh women or, for that matter, to any women.
16: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), September 03, 2013, 9:06 PM.
As someone born in Leeds, United Kingdom, I can assure the wider Sikh diaspora that there are many Sikh groups in the UK who 'hit back' if it is found that a Sikh girl has been targeted by Pakistani / Muslim men. The trick is in understanding that we have to be the masters of our own destiny ... and that it won't happen if you rely on 'Asian' or 'Indian' groups to help you in these situations. Nor will it help you in identifying yourself with them. We need to look after, and to address, our own issues as SIKHS!
17: Nirmal (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), September 04, 2013, 12:01 AM.
We had such an incident in our family in Canada. In this case, the seed was sown about two or three decades ago. Onw of our relatives who had boys and a girl used to make fun of practicing Sikh boys in front of his family. It used to make my blood boil, I never said anything as he was related to me through marriage. It was not my place to comment on his stupidities. Another activity the whole family involved in was watching Indian movies featuring this Khan and that Khan. Well, guess what, when his daughter grew older she was more interested in Khans than any Sikh. She forcefully demanded a clean shaven match for her. Later, she ran away with a Muslim guy. I normally wouldn't hurt anyone with comments, but I told him that day that he should have spent some time teaching his kids about our great Gurus, the Sahibzaday and teach them Sikh history. He was just reaping what had he sown back then. I'm sure this is not an isolated incident, it has happened to others too.
18: Ravinder Singh (Mumbai, India), September 04, 2013, 2:21 AM.
Reading the comments made in #14, I feel we should refer to the article, 'Should Sikhs always be in a minority', which appeared on sikhchic.com last year.
19: R Singh (Canada), September 04, 2013, 6:14 AM.
This is like leaving the barn door wide open and then blaming the thieves. There are multiple factors in this problem that need to be discussed point-wise, after we are done with our outrage and anger. First of all, our parenting skills and old-world attitudes need a thorough scrutiny. Secondly, unsavory elements, whatever their convoluted and perverted attitudes, have always existed at any given time, whichever group they may belong to, (in this case identified as Pakistani and Muslim) but only a few would provide anyone with opportunities to get away with deeds like these, by hiding it. We as a community have a lot of time for parties, latest fashion styles, akhand-paatths, elaborate weddings/parties where alcohol flows like water, etc., etc., but when it comes to our kids we come up with all kinds of excuses for our failures. Our households are obsessed with bollywood fare. Our kids are also exposed 24/7 to, and used as tools for cultural immersion in lieu of personal parenting. It's like asking to dumb down our kids for the real world around them with mind-numbing stupid masala fare. In case anyone hasn't noticed, the next set of alcoholics will be from our daughters, for in our zeal to declare equality, we did not stop our men-folk from this slow poison but instead introduced our daughters and wives to it. We need a thorough session of introspection or our daughters are going to continue to be easy targets. Getting our frustration out on some sick lunatics with perverse beliefs, and then going back to whatever we were doing, will not help.
20: Ali Hussain (Hyderabad, India), September 04, 2013, 6:56 AM.
I as a Muslim. I feel ashamed to read such an ugly behavior done by men of my community (if I can call them such). Such persons should be punished severely.
21: Manjit Kaur (Fredrick, Maryland, U.S.A.), September 04, 2013, 9:19 AM.
This piece of documentary is available for viewing on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRkXEGaXl7Q&feature=youtu.be it is quite disturbing. I couldn't sleep after watching the piece. As the above comments indicate, we need to be involved as parents. These young victims couldn't even turn to their only security ... their parents!
22: Darshan (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), September 04, 2013, 9:39 AM.
#16 -- "... to stand united as Sikh then declare yourself as Sikh as your race/ethnic and religion as Sikhism". This was echoed in Malaysia during the population census, every Sikh was advised to identify as above. This is to distinguish ourselves from Malaysians of other Indian origins (otherwise, the Sikh, being a minority within the Indian community, will remain lost as a Malaysian Indian). Directly or indirectly, the government of Malaysia, i.e., the PM recognizes the Sikh contribution in developing Malaysia ... separate from the other Indians. This is proven when the government gives grants to gurdawaras and Sikh organisationa, in the special reserve for Sikhs to join police and armed forces, etc. (The PM and DPM both being Malay Muslim, had visited gurdwaras during Vaisakhi. Thus, my 2-cents worth of contribution will be to work with the government officials at the highest levels, being apolitical, set up caucus with the MPs/Congress/MLAs who sympathize with the Sikhs and finally set up a powerful international Sikh organisation that affiliates with the UN, with representation from each nation (not SGPC!). These organisations should work together to pass information and put pressure on the government of the day without threat but moral, legal and electoral "persuasion". So that we are not seen as a minority but as EK (one) powerful international/ national lobby group. Our identity must be seen, we must act as EK (one) SIKH. Though my 2-cents does not deal directly with the topic in hand but dealing in wider perspective if not now, then in the future with gur-kirpa the seeds of One United Sikh have to be plant now for the future. Start with a few, then go international.
23: S.S.N. (USA), September 04, 2013, 9:53 AM.
Hearing a lot about masters of our own destiny. But we fail to identify ourselves in census after census. I was reading up on Canada yesterday and found that there is a bigger % of people identifying as "South Asian" as against those who say "Punjabi" or "Sikh". In this very country, most Sikhs define themselves as "Indian" rather than as "Sikh". Why? No Indian/"South Asian" is going to come in and help you out. And they do not give Sikhs the fair share of resources allotted to "South Asian" or "Indian" interests. Fine, I have close Indian friends but only on an individual level. Our advocacy groups will have a better chance in protecting our rights if we have numbers to back them. Our culture has to move away from the "show-off" and forceful "blend-in" phenomenon. My fiance is a Chinese girl and we were in a gurdwara here in the north-east this past Sunday. She remarked how proud she is of me, and said she feels bad for all the clean shaven Sikh boys who tried to blend in. Truth be told, I don't see clean shaven boys any different from gursikh boys just by appearance. But how much of the Sikh values of humility, piety, respect, do they retain? Make the kids learn history, tell them "saakhis" at bed-time. One final remark - I'm in my late 20s and I feel there is no Sikh youth group, maintained and.or organized by young Sikhs. At least in my area. I would love to form bonds with other like-minded Sikh youth professionals to some meaningful end. [EDITOR: Start one. Others will follow.]
24: Harinder (Punjab), September 04, 2013, 12:41 PM.
This used to happen in medieval history ... and is repeating itself again, right under our noses. And that too, in a Sikh-friendly country like the UK. The authorities need to put a stop to these crimes.
25: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), September 04, 2013, 2:09 PM.
#16 Baldev Singh: Could you please explain a little more in depth how Sikh groups 'hit back'? I only ask for my own peace of mind. I don't know why, but I have been greatly disturbed about this situation for the past few days. I would feel a lot better knowing what the tangible consequences are for these monsters. I had someone link me a video of a group somewhere in the UK called "Sher-e-Punjab" which deals with these monsters but I didn't want to watch as I cannot digest any more information about the situation.
26: N Singh (Canada), September 04, 2013, 3:58 PM.
@#25 Sunny ji: I know this is hard to digest but as I said earlier this is quite common in the UK. Not only have Sikh girls been targeted for years but now even white girls are being targeted ... being handed out to several men at sex parties, forced to participate in humiliating and degrading acts. Several of these men have now been locked up once these girls had the courage to come forward. Several months ago I had read about a young Jewish woman in Israel who had put an ad in the paper looking for a Jewish partner. A Muslim man responded claiming to be Jewish and befriended her, became involved in a relationship with her despite the fact that she said she only wanted a Jewish partner. I think she took her case to court for using false pretenses. It seems that this is a common modus operandi for some Muslim men everywhere. They see non-Muslim women as sexual conquests and use that as an attack against non-Muslim communities. I do however agree with other commentators here that we need to educate our daughters on this and deal with the larger issues.
27: N Singh (Canada), September 04, 2013, 4:02 PM.
Please see: http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/crime/2013/05/10/horror-of-telford-girls-sex-abuse-ordeal/ and also: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1345687/Muslim-sexual-predators-jailed-white-Britains-hypocritical-values-blame.html
28: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), September 04, 2013, 5:39 PM.
@Commentator #25 ... This 'hitting back' happens in secret, just as the crimes perpetrated by these moronic monsters are done in secret against weak and vulnerable victims.
29: Manjit Kaur (Fredrick, Maryland, U.S.A.), September 04, 2013, 7:03 PM.
@# 25: please see BBC documentary @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRkXEGaXl7Q&feature=youtu.be -- as mentioned earlier, this is nothing new. As a teenager growing up in the West Midlands, UK, back in the mid-seventies this was the fear then too. My parents warned me about what was happening, especially in London and then slowly moving to the Midlands and then North. My parents talked to me about this situation and explained how easily girls can be a target and asked me to keep my wits about and let them know if I was ever approached and not to keep secrets or be afraid because my father taught me it's the fear these criminals feed off of. I applaud Mohan Singh for his efforts to gather information and involve the local authorities which led to some arrests but more work needs to be done. The fact that Mohan Singh is visiting some 300 gurdwaras to alert the Sikh population of this heinous crime is a start. What's surprising about the British Sikh community is their lack of knowledge and awareness about parenting and fear of community but not the compassion, education and awareness of the safety of their own children. Why aren't these parents moving with the times, they seem to be locked in time from an era about 50 years ago, like they live in some remote village in India. (Even the villages in Punjab have moved on.) No wonder our innocent girls are a target in these crimes. In the documentary an ex-gang member admitted how easy Sikh girls can be targeted -- go figure!
30: R.S. Minhas (Millburn, New Jersey, USA), September 04, 2013, 7:58 PM.
The fight needs to be taken to the criminals. If this is going on, then sting operations should be able to draw them out. NBC Dateline used to have a show, "To Catch a Predator," in which hidden cameras caught predators trying to solicit sex with decoys. These investigations were aired on national TV for the world to see. Most predators ended up in jail and lost their jobs. They came from all walks of life - school teachers, fire fighters, engineers, heck, even a rabbi! Waiting for bad things like this to happen is a big mistake. How dare these criminals do this? The fight needs to be taken to them. Expose them and their families - turn the tables on who wants to keep it hush-hush now. Make them pay a price for even trying.
31: Klasik Singh (Malaysia), November 18, 2013, 5:17 AM.
I am a Sikh looking for help from Sikh organizations, because I strongly believe that Hinduvata groups have infiltrated all our gurdwaras temples in Malaysia. No joke!