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Sikh females in the Midlands area are explaining how a series of hate crimes based on faith has created deep-seated anxiety within their community, compelling some to “radically modify” concerning their day-to-day activities.

String of Events Triggers Concern

Two rapes targeting Sikh females, both young adults, occurring in Walsall and Oldbury, have come to light over the past few weeks. A man in his early thirties has been charged related to a religiously aggravated rape linked to the purported assault in Walsall.

These events, coupled with a violent attack on two elderly Sikh taxi drivers from Wolverhampton, resulted in a session in the House of Commons in late October concerning bias-motivated crimes targeting Sikhs within the area.

Ladies Modifying Habits

An advocate from a domestic abuse charity in the West Midlands explained that ladies were changing their daily routines for their own safety.

“The terror, the total overhaul of daily life, is genuine. I’ve never witnessed this previously,” she noted. “For the first time since establishing Sikh Women’s Aid, women have expressed: ‘We’ve ceased pursuing our passions out of fear for our safety.’”

Females felt “uneasy” visiting fitness centers, or going for walks or runs currently, she indicated. “They now undertake these activities collectively. They notify friends or relatives of their whereabouts.

“A violent incident in Walsall causes anxiety for ladies in Coventry as it’s part of the same region,” she emphasized. “Undoubtedly, there’s been a change in how females perceive their personal security.”

Community Responses and Precautions

Sikh temples across the Midlands have begun distributing personal safety devices to females in an effort to keep them safe.

At one Walsall gurdwara, a regular attender stated that the events had “changed everything” for the Sikh community there.

Notably, she expressed she felt unsafe going to the gurdwara on her own, and she advised her elderly mother to exercise caution while answering the door. “We’re all targets,” she affirmed. “Anyone can be attacked day or night.”

Another member explained she was adopting further protective steps during her travels to work. “I attempt to park closer to the transit hub,” she noted. “I put paath [prayer] in my headphones but it’s on a very low volume, to the point where I can still hear cars go past, I can still hear surroundings around me.”

Echoes of Past Anxieties

A woman raising three girls remarked: “We go for walks, the girls and I, and it just feels very unsafe at the moment with all these crimes.

“We never previously considered such safety measures,” she said. “I’m looking over my shoulder constantly.”

For a long-time resident, the mood echoes the discrimination endured by elders in the 1970s and 80s.

“We’ve experienced all this in the 1980s when our mums used to go past where the community hall is,” she said. “We used to have the National Front and all the people sat there and they used to spit at them, call them names or set dogs on them. For some reason, I’m going back to that. In my head, I think those times are almost back.”

A public official echoed this, saying people felt “we’ve regressed to an era … marked by overt racism”.

“People are scared to go out in the community,” she said. “Many hesitate to display religious symbols like turbans or scarves.”

Official Responses and Reassurances

Municipal authorities had set up extra CCTV in the vicinity of places of worship to comfort residents.

Law enforcement officials confirmed they were conducting discussions with community leaders, ladies’ associations, and community leaders, and going to worship centers, to discuss women’s safety.

“It’s been a very difficult week for the community,” a chief superintendent informed a gurdwara committee. “No one should reside in a neighborhood filled with fear.”

Local government affirmed it had been “actively working alongside the police with the Sikh community and our communities more widely to provide support and reassurance”.

One more local authority figure remarked: “Everyone was stunned by the horrific event in Oldbury.” She added that the council worked with the police as part of a safety partnership to tackle violence against women and girls and hate crime.