Tag: Sikh

  • ‘Sikh’ struck on head in hate-motivated assault in Canada

    ‘Sikh’ struck on head in hate-motivated assault in Canada

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    Toronto: A man, apparently a Sikh, was allegedly struck on the head, causing his turban to fall on the ground, by an unidentified man, who also made “derogatory comments” at a subway station in Canada, police said.

    Police officers responded to an assault call at the Bloor-Yonge Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) subway station following the incident last week.

    Upon reaching the scene, police found that a man had been struck on the head causing his “religious head covering” — which they later identified as turban — to fall on the ground.

    The suspect allegedly passed derogatory comments at the victim before he left the TTC station, the Toronto Police said in a statement.

    The victim, whose age or religious affiliation were not released by the police, sustained minor injuries on his head.

    However, a report in Omni News, a multicultural and multilingual broadcaster in Canada, confirmed the identity of the victim as Sikh in its report.

    The suspect was last seen wearing a blue hat and a black jacket and was carrying a black bag.

    “After consultation with the specialised Hate Crime Unit, the investigation is being treated as a suspected hate-motivated offence,” the Toronto police said in its statement.

    Toronto Mayor John Tory said police are investigating the hate-motivated assault of a man at the subway station. “Our transit system – and city at large – must be safe places for all and free of hatred, without exception,” Tory tweeted after the incident.

    “Hate has no place in our city. We must all call out and stand together against discrimination and violence,” he said.

    Condemning the incident, the Toronto Transit Commission said that they will continue to assist Toronto Police in the course of their investigation.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • British Sikh trekker sets new polar expedition world record

    British Sikh trekker sets new polar expedition world record

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    London: A British Sikh Army officer and physiotherapist has set a new world record for the longest solo, unsupported, and unassisted polar expedition by a woman.

    Captain Harpreet Chandi, known as Polar Preet having already completed a trekking challenge to become the first Indian-origin woman to set the record of a solo unsupported trek to the South Pole, travelled 1,397 km across Antarctica in temperatures as cold as minus 50 degrees Celsius. The previous record was 1,381 km, set by Anja Blacha in 2020.

    “It was very cold and windy but I kept my breaks very short so I didn’t get too cold,” Chandi wrote on Thursday in a blog she has been maintaining while on her new polar expedition.

    “I didn’t let myself stop earlier though because I wanted to get the miles in,” she said.

    However, Chandi is disappointed that she does not have enough to meet her original aim of becoming the first woman to cross Antarctica solo and unsupported.

    “I’m pretty gutted that I don’t have the time to complete the crossing. I know that I have done a huge journey, it’s just difficult while I’m on the ice and I know it’s not that far away,” she said.

    The 33-year-old from Derby in eastern England, working at a regional rehabilitation unit in Buckinghamshire, has been pulling a sledge with all her kit and battling below freezing temperatures on her new adventure since November 2022.

    The University of Derbyshire, which conferred her with an honorary degree, congratulated the trekker for breaking the “record for the longest solo, unsupported, and unassisted polar expedition by any woman in history”.

    It was around three years ago when she was learning about Antarctica that she decided she wanted to do a crossing of the continent.

    But she did not put in her application into the Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions (ALE), which handles the permissions for such expeditions, immediately because she wanted to build up some experience.

    Her application was completed early last year and it has been all about preparing for her new goal after completing Phase 1 with her South Pole expedition in 2021. On her latest mission, she has been listening to voice notes to keep her motivated.

    “I listened to childhood memories from my brothers, my mum telling me how excited she was about having a baby girl and how the midwife commented that she had never seen an Asian woman so excited about having a girl. And finally hearing my niece say it’s the most amazing thing she has seen anyone do in her entire life and it’s even more amazing because it’s her phuwa (auntie) doing it. It’s so precious to hear,” she writes on her blog this week.

    Chandi has always been keen to push the human body to its limits and sees her adventures as part of this wider mission.

    As an “endurance athlete”, she has run marathons and ultra-marathons and, as a British Army officer, completed large scale exercises and deployments in Nepal, Kenya and a United Nations peacekeeping tour of South Sudan.

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    #British #Sikh #trekker #sets #polar #expedition #world #record

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )