(Samaj Weekly)- Following a Thames Valley Police investigation, Amrik Singh Bajwa, aged 68, of Bowyer Drive, Slough has been sent to jail for 18 weeks and fined £240 for sending by public communication network offensive/indecent/obscene /menacing message materials.
This conviction relates to a video Amrik Singh Bajwa posted on TikTok on 19 July 2022 which included his casteist, racist, religious and homophobic insults. Amrik Singh Bajwa also threatened to rape women from the Dalit communities that he was insulting, and claimed to have raped their daughters, sisters and mothers in the past with impunity. This successful conviction was as a result of numerous communities getting together and complaining to the police about Bajwa. This included representatives from the Guru Ravidass Sabha UK and Abroad, Valmik organisations, Ambedkarites, and other organisations. The Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance was one of the key organisations to bring the obscene TikTok video to the attention of the Police and during the court proceedings the ACDA’s statement was one of the statements read out by the prosecution.
A spokesperson from the Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance said:
“We welcome the Amrik Singh Bajwa’s conviction today and thank Thames Valley Police for listening to the community. The 18 weeks sentence in jail reflects the severity of the harm Amrik Bajwa’s video caused the Dalit community. We understand the conviction did not specifically refer to ‘caste’ because caste is not yet a protected characteristic in law. But the Crime Prosecution Service shared at the hearing today the derogatory words ‘Choora’ and ‘Chaamar’ that Mr Bajwa used.
The video Amrik Singh Bajwa posted on TikTok in 2022 was highly toxic and casteist in content. The clear threat to rape Dalit women and girls was very menacing and disturbing – especially in light of his boasts of having raped Dalit women in the UK in the paste with impunity.
We come across regular reports of rapes, and gang rapes of Dalit girls and women – some resulting in murder and death in India by so-called higher caste men. The Hathras gang rape case is an example. Bajwa’s social media post threats are in keeping with some so-called high caste men who believe it’s ok to discriminate on the basis of caste and to control, rape and de-humanise Dalit girls and women.
This is not the first such case in England. A Mr Luthra was sentenced to 12 weeks in jail (suspended for 5 years) in 2020 after ACDA pursued the case on a similar charge. Caste was not mentioned on the charge sheet in that case either. The Government must outlaw caste discrimination/harassment in the UK to deter others and reduce the pain to the Dalit community. Progress is being made in California and Canada. We need to progress in the UK too. A law is ready and waiting for implementation!”
For more information please contact ACDA on 07902 806342
