Huff Post: by Idrija Bose —

An elderly Sikh-American man was brutally attacked and allegedly called a “terrorist” and “Bin Laden” in Chicago on Tuesday, Sikh advocacy groups report.

The incident occurred just days before the 14th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Charges have yet to be filed, but police are treating the case as a hate crime,NBC reports.

THE SIKH COALITIONInderjit Singh Mukker was reportedly attacked in Chicago on Tuesday.According to the Sikh Coalition, Inderjit Singh Mukker, an American citizen and father of two, was on his way to a grocery store when a driver began taunting him. He finally pulled over to the side of the road to let him pass, but the driver instead pulled up in front of his car, reached into the car and repeatedly punched Mukker in the face. Mukker lost consciousness, lost blood and suffered a fractured cheekbone.

The assailant also yelled racial slurs, including, “Terrorist, go back to your country, Bin Laden!”

Mukker was then rushed to a nearby hospital where he had to be sewn up with six stitches.

“No American should be afraid to practice their faith in our country,” Mukker said.

The Sikh Coalition’s Legal Director Harsimran Kaur said the group wanted the attack investigated as a hate crime.

“We believe Mr. Mukker was targeted and assaulted because of his Sikh religious appearance, race or national origin,” Kaur said in a statement.

Mukker also said that this attack needed to be considered a hate crime.

“I’m thankful for the authorities’ swift response to apprehend the individual but without this being fully investigated as a hate crime, we risk ignoring the horrific pattern of intolerance, abuse and violence that Sikhs and other minority communities in this country continue to face,” he said.

Sikh groups have reported a surge of hate crimes against people in their community since the September 11 attacks. The U.S. Department of Justice has investigated more than 800 incidents against Sikh, Arab, Muslim and South Asian Americans since 9/11.

Last August, Sandeep Singh, a Sikh father in New York City, was run over and dragged 30 feet after being called a “terrorist.”

In 2012, a gunman with Neo-Nazi ties walked into a Sikh house of worship (gurdwara) and shot and killed six innocent Sikh victims in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.

Simran Jeet Singh, Senior Religion Fellow for the Sikh Coalition, wondered what it would take to end the “disease” of violence against religious minorities.

The brutal attack on an elderly Sikh American is harrowing in its own right. It’s even more troubling when we see it in the context of hate violence in modern America. That hateful people continue to target innocent Americans because of how they look forces us all to take a look in the mirror and ask the question — what are we doing to end hate and bigotry? Until each of us takes responsibility, this disease will continue to plague our nation.

Carol Kuruvilla provided additional reporting on this piece. 

Origional Post here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sikh-attacked-in-chicago_55f1a8aae4b093be51bdddb3