Norwich,Connecticut USA, Feb 21, 2019 - Members and Activists of Sikh Community held meeting with various federal officials including Congressman office and briefed them about alleged torture and mistreatment of Sikh detainees in ICE detention Centers.
Swaranjit Singh Khalsa President Sikh Sewak Society International and Director of United Sikhs along with his team arranged this meeting with various federal representatives office including Congressman Joe Courtney Office.
Khalsa said “ Sikhs came and choose to live in America because Indian Govt. committed Sikh Genocide in 1984 and because of going mistreatment of sikhs in India”.
If America won’t understand the pain of these people then who will.
Sikh Detainees don't want to go back to india as their lives are in danger and most of them already applied for Political Asylum and have no criminal background.
One Specific case of Harpreet Singh 1992 born young Sikh man from India was to be discussed by his brother Resham Singh from NewYork.
This Young Sikh boy is in Folkston Ice Processing Center in Georgia and being allegdely tortured by ICE officials because he and other Sikhs choose to go on Hunger Strike as a way to protest against mistreatment.
It’s been 10 days that he is on hunger strike. It was alleged he was made to remove all of his clothes and was given cold shower and was detained naked for two days in cold air conditioning.
Khalsa alleged that a number of detainees are suffering from Chicken pox and thats why their attorneys are not even allowed to meet them. Ravinderbir Singh also discussed the case of Palwinderbir Singh who has not even called from past 5 days from detention center.
On Smilar lines Sikhs detained in EL Paso and Otero detention center were allegedly force-fed after hunger strike was started by them. Many Sikhs Civil rights organizations including SALDEF,Sikh coalition and United Sikhs are working on addressing this issue by meeting federal level representatives so this in-humane behavior by ICE can be stopped.
Mr Khalsa further said that now this case of Harpreet Singh, Palwinderbir Singh and other Sikhs in various detention center is in knowledge of US Senator Richard Blumenthal’s,Senator Chris Murphy’s and Congressman Joe Courtney’s office and we can hope some action can be taken to stop this human rights violations.