Indian-origin legislator proposes bill recognising vandalism of temples, gurdwaras as hate crime in Michigan

Ranjeev Puri, an Indian-American legislator in United States Michigan, has introduced a bill seeking to make vandalisation or desecration of religious institutions such as temples, mosques, or Sikh Gurudwaras a hate crime.
The bill seeks to expand the definition of hate crimes to include the vandalisation of places of worship

Apart from this one, Michigan State Representative Puri has introduced several bills aimed at advancing social issues and inclusivity in the state.

Indian-American legislator's inclusive bills

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One of the bills seeks to expand the definition of hate crimes in Michigan to include the vandalisation of places of worship. Puri's proposal aims to make it easier to prosecute individuals responsible for vandalising or desecrating religious institutions such as temples, mosques, or Sikh Gurudwaras.

Talking to PTI, Puri explained that "If a religious institution such as the temple, masjid or a Sikh Gurudwara is vandalised or desecrated, it is now gonna be much easier to prosecute those people with a heavy-handed responsibility that those hate crimes are. There are a whole host of issues that we are tackling. I'm most proud of in a leading voice on common sense gun reform in Michigan."

Additionally, Puri has introduced another bill to establish several holidays as official state-recognised holidays in Michigan.

"I have introduced a bill to make the Diwali, Vaisakhi, and Eid al-Fitr, holidays in Michigan. I have another bill that would expand the definition of hate crimes. So, the original hate crime bill in Michigan was written in 1988 and has not been updated ever since. It’s 35 years and so we are updating the definitions to be more inclusive," Puri told news agency PTI during the interview.

Who is Ranjeev Puri?

Ranjeev Puri is currently serving his second term as a state representative and holds the influential position of Michigan House Majority Whip.

He has been actively advocating for gun reforms and is a leading voice in addressing social issues.

Puri's parents migrated from Amritsar, India, to the United States in the 1970s. His parents played a significant role in establishing the first Sikh Gurudwarain Wisconsin.

"As they emigrated to Wisconsin, they noticed there weren’t a lot of people that look like them. They really helped build a community and as more and more people emigrated, they actually started the first Sikh Gurudwara in the state of Wisconsin. I watched them build a community inOak Creek," Puri told PTI.

The Oak Creek shooting in 2012, where six people were killed in a Gurudwara by a gunman with ties to white supremacist groups, deeply affected Puri. The shooting took place in the same gurudwara his parents had helped build.

"As I kind of progressed through my career, I got involved, I ended up taking up and working with President (Barack) Obama in 2012. Sadly 2012 was the Oak Creek shooting and the community was the same one that my parents had started in the early 70s."

"Unfortunately, that shooting was heart-wrenching, because many lives were lost that they were very close family friends, and I realised that’s when our broader Indian-American community really needed a stronger voice in this arena," he said.

Desecration of places of worship in US

In America, recent years have witnessed multiple cases of desecration and vandalism of religious places like Temples, Gurudwaras and Mosques.

A few months back, in January, Gurudwara Sahib Khalsa Darbar, in North Carolina's Charlotte city made the headlines. However, it was not a one-off incident. As per United Sikhs, a global charity affiliated with the UN Department of Public Information, the Sikh temple was made the target of four separate vandalism incidents within a few months. Similar incidents have been reported across the US and other Western countries, where Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims are minority communities.

(With inputs from agencies)

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