On Friday (January 13), a man by the name of Arslan Ibrahim confessed to issuing a death threat to the ‘rival group’ (Hindu community) in Leicester in September last year.
As per an exclusive report by the BBC, the accused yelled ‘I will kill you’ twice and provoked the Hindu community into a fight. The incident had taken place on Harrison Road in Belgrave.
Soon after, the 28-year-old man was detained. On Friday, Ibrahim’s counsel told the Nottingham Magistrates’ Court that he made the death threats in response to supposed ‘racist chanting’ on the street and apologised for his actions.
The accused was then handed out a conditional discharge and made to pay a paltry sum of £26 and £85 as victim surcharge and court costs respectively.
Five suspects identify themselves after police releases pictures of 10 accused
On January 10, the Leicester Police released photographs of ten suspects of anti-Hindu violence in the area and sought help from the public to identify them. As per the latest update, five out of ten suspects identified themselves, and the hunt for the remaining six is still on.
In a statement, Leicester Police said that the officers working on the investigation sought help in identifying the suspects. The detectives checked hours of CCTV and body cams to identify the miscreants involved in the violence.
While over 100 were arrested, many others remained unidentified and escaped incarceration. It is unclear how many more suspects are still unidentified, and the police may release more images in the coming weeks.
Since August last year, the anti-Hindu attacks in the United Kingdom, especially in Leicester and Birmingham, increased by several folds. What appeared to be a reaction to the defeat Pakistan faced in the T20 Asia Cup match against India, it was later found that Islamists were just using the match as an excuse to attack the Hindus as they did not stop even after Pakistan defeated India in the same series a week later.