Sikh boy faked assault to cut hair

LONDON: It was an attack that had reverberated across the Sikh world. A gang of white teenagers had cut off a 15-year-old Sikh boy’s hair in November in what police had described as a “vicious and unprovoked racist attack”.

But the attack turned out to be a lie the boy had made up to have a haircut.

The unnamed boy had given his family and police a graphic account of how a gang pounced upon him just outside his home in Edinburgh and verbally and physically attacked him before taking off his turban and cutting his hair.

The widely reported incident received condemnation from Sikh bodies in the United Kingdom, Europe, and India. An inter-faith vigil was organised in Edinburgh to promote tolerance.

Police investigating the claim questioned more than 120 people and studied hours of CCTV footage. But, “there were a lot of things that weren’t adding up. There were severe doubts. Eventually he admitted he had made the whole thing up,” said a police officer.Superintendent Ramzan Mohayuddin, area commander for North and Leith, said the boy did not act out of malice “but due to emotional pressures, including cultural identity issues”.

The teenager had felt torn between Sikh and Western values and wanted to cut his hair but was scared of the reaction of his family and the community. So, he concocted the story of the attack, punched his own face, and cut his hair before going home crying.

The Edinburgh Sikh Gurdwara Committee thanked police and people around the world who had offered support and urged that the incident should not undermine real hate crimes. “It is obvious the boy has been suffering deep anguish and a crisis of faith, which has resulted in his harming himself,” it said in a statement.

Police have closed the case and do not intend to take any action against the boy for wasting their time.