Sikh TV channel accused of urging vigilante action over sex gangs

A SIKH cable television channel has been accused of encouraging victims of grooming to take justice into their own hands and rely on vigilante violence rather than the police.

Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, said it had received a complaint that a drama broadcast on the Birminghambased Sikh Channel had “advocated retaliatory violence as acceptable”.

The complaint concerned a 50-minute drama produced by the organisation Sikh Youth UK telling the story of a young female Sikh student groomed by a Muslim man called Abdul, the Birmingham Mail reported.

Ofcom said in a letter to the channel that the film broadcast on May 20 suggested sexual assaults against Sikhs should not be reported to the police “but rather should be referred to the Sikh community for action”.

The film shows young Sikh men taking revenge on the abusers and beating them up. One bloodied abuser is shown being bundled into a car boot and another is wrestled to the floor by armed intruders in his own house.

The regulator also raised concerns about a post-film studio discussion referring to Muslims being involved in sex attacks on Sikh women.

Ofcom said the references were “potentially offensive”.

But the film’s producer defended the broadcast, saying it was fiction and did not encourage violence or sectarianism. Kaldip Singh, of Birmingham, said: “It is just a film with people acting. We are not saying people should take the law into their own hands, but we are telling them to contact us if they suspect grooming is happening.”

Mr Singh claimed “it would have cost an extra £5,000 to make” the film if he had included a scene where the victim sought help from the police.

He said: “Of course, if the victim is under age or has been raped then they should go to police, but our experience shows that in the past the authorities have ignored the problem of Sikh girls being groomed by Muslim men in this country for more than 40 years.”

Ofcom highlighted a scene 39 minutes into the film where the Sikh victim, called Japneet, is shown in the sitting room of a Sikh Youth UK safe house after being sexually assaulted.

The scene shows a text being sent reading: “Some boys have hurt Japneet penji. We have to teach them a lesson.”

One minute later in the film, vigilantes are shown bundling one of the abusers into the boot of a car, while Sikh men armed with knives, a bat and an axe are shown standing outside the home of another alleged abuser called Abdul.

Ofcom wrote: “We are concerned that the portrayal of the vigilante attack on ‘Abdul’s’ house may have been interpreted by viewers as condoning such attacks and representing attacks carried out by members of Sikh Youth UK.”