Alleged hate crime being investigated after Nuneaton Gurdwara attack

UPDATE: An arrest was made less than 24-hours after the incident, with more info set to come.

An attack on a Gurdwara in Nuneaton (Warwickshire, UK) is being investigated as a hate crime, after a disturbing incident yesterday afternoon.

According to local sevadaars (selfless servants), police are investigating the incident is being investigated for criminal damage, trespassing and hate crime, based on a young man desecrating Sikh literature, contaminating communal food and attacking the Granthi (person in charge of prayers), who was leading prayers at the time.

Around 5pm on 08.07.25 a youth – described as likely a teenager of fair/pale complexion – entered the Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Gurdwara Nuneation and walked into the langar (communal kitchen) hall. A Gurdwara is open to all, as is langar. Seen later on via CCTV footage, the youth then contaminated fruit which was out for the langar service with an unknown substance. The youth then entered an area with books and began desecrating images of the Sikh Gurus on these books. NOTE- These books were NOT sacred Sikh scripture (EG pothi sahibs- compilations of Gurbani, sacred Sikh scripture). The youth then picked up potatoes from the kitchen area of the langar hall, then entered into the darbar (meaning ‘King’s Court’, referring to the main prayer hall with setup for Sikh scriptural Guru, Guru Granth Sahib Ji), and threw the potatoes at the granthi, who was reading prayers at the time. Darbar was empty at the time, except for the Granthi. Upon becoming aware of the assault and after completing his passage, the Granthi got up and went to apprehend the youth, who then ran out of the building. No Sikh protocol – such as covering one’s head and removing shoes – was kept by the youth.

The incident was brought to light via a Sikh Channel report, spoken on by community figure Kam Singh, in what is now viral footage. According to local sevadaars, the initial police response to the call from the Gurdwara committee about the incident was not urgent enough, saying they would attend the Gurdwara the next day, leading to sangat (Sikh congregation) from across the Midlands attending to ensure the Gurdwara was secured, and also pressing police into responding sooner.

Community figure Kam Singh spoke to The Sikh Press Association, saying, “The incident was clearly a hate crime. Images of our Gurus were specifically targeted, and an attempt to disrupt our practices- langar and paat (prayer recital) – were made. Sikhs are aware of previous attacks on our Gurdwaras in India, the UK, USA and Australia, driven by different types of bigotry. For this reason, the police needed to take this seriously and we are glad they now are, and the Gurdwara committee will continue to engage with them until justice is done.“

Warwickshire Police are believed to now be searching for the individual, whose image was captured on CCTV.

The Sikh community is in a unique position of often being targeted by different types of bigotry, including white-supremacy, Hindutva (Hindu extremism) and Islamic extremism, all of which have resulted in attacks on Gurdwaras within recent years.

More will be provided on this story as information comes in.

Media@sikhpa.com.