Angry after a fellow student cut the hair of Gurprit Kaur (12), the Sikh community in New York City took out a protest march demanding action to stop such cases.

Kaur’s hair was cut by a fellow student on June 9, at a school in Flushing in Queens, five days after Jagmohan Singh Premi was punched on the face in another school by a fellow student who was trying to remove his turban.

The Sikh Coalition, which organised the march yesterday, says that more than 60 per cent Sikh students in 400 New York City public schools are subjected to violence because of their faith.

A fellow student told Gurprit that a portion of her braided hair had been cut off. Gurprit did not notice while her hair was being cut from behind.

Given the deep spiritual significance of her hair, Gurprit was extremely upset, the Coalition said.