Sikh Student Association protests brutality in Punjab

Twelve students sang and played traditional Indian instruments at Meyerhoff Park Thursday afternoon to protest police brutality against Sikhs who peacefully protested in Punjab, India, on Oct. 14.

Simran Bohgunh, president of the Sikh Student Association, or SSA, said the organization arranged the protest in an attempt to educate students about what he called unrest and discrimination against Sikhs in Punjab. Students played the tabla, a set of small hand drums, and the harmonium, a reed organ, at the event.

Harmeet Mann, an event organizer, said SSA’s goal is to make more people aware of human rights violations through social media. Protesters sat with signs that said “Take a Pic, Save a Sikh,” to spread the news on social media.

Bohgunh, a fourth-year political science and global studies student, said he thinks the escalation of current events, including the desecration of the holy scripture, the “Guru Granth Sahib,” in various places in Punjab, caused an outbreak of protests across the state.

Sikhism emerged in northern India more than 500 years ago. Most Sikhs are from Punjab, a state in northern India.

Bohgunh added he thinks recent attacks demonstrate what he calls Sikhs’ inability to protest peacefully or have police protection for their place of worship.

“If we were doing this in India now, we would be killed,” said Mann, a third-year biochemistry student.

Mann said she thinks the lack of acknowledgement from the media and the Indian government of the violence against Sikhs escalated the issue. Cell phone videos taken in Punjab are the only way news about the protests has spread, she said.

Brian Hertz, a fourth-year psychobiology student who attended the event, signed the White House petition that the SSA is circulating. The petition, which needs 100,000 signatures, asks President Barack Obama to respond to the police violence in Punjab by publicly condemning the incident.

Hertz said he did not know much about the events in Punjab before coming to the protest, but decided to sign the petition because he thinks the events are an injustice and people should be more aware of the issues.

Dani Glouberman, a third-year civil engineering student who attended the protest, said she decided to sign the petition to show her support for the Sikh community. Glouberman said she thinks the Indian government should allow Sikhs to peacefully protest.

“It doesn’t seem right to silence people’s voices,” she said.

Contributing reports by Andrea Henthorn and Mila Abushmaies, Bruin contributors.