- 200 Sikhs in West London protested to rescue a 16-year-old held captive by a man
- The girl was gang-raped by six men from a Pakistani grooming gang
- Pakistani grooming gangs target vulnerable girls aged 11-16 for abuse and trafficking
In an unsettling incident in Hounslow, West London, 200 members of the Sikh community gathered chanting, "Jo Bole So Nihaal, Sat Sri Akal," to rescue a 16-year-old girl held captive by a man in his late 30s. The teenager was raped by 6 other men belonging to a Pakistani grooming gang. After hours of protests, one of the perpetrators was taken into custody by the police, and the girl was released.
A video of the demonstration has gone viral on the internet, with the footage showing the accused being taken in a police van.
The accused had befriended the teenager when she was only 13 years old and began to form a relationship with her. She was persuaded through grooming tactics to leave her home when she turned 16, according to the Sikh Press Association. The area where the accused lived had 20 secondary schools, with several children passing by his home.
Pakistani grooming gangs in the UK have been associated with systematic child sexual abuse for decades. They target young girls, aged 11-16, and lure them with promises of love, gifts and friendship. They usually target interfaith girls from vulnerable backgrounds to isolate them from their families. Once they are isolated, the perpetrators blackmail them with threats, and they are also trafficked for profit.
Last year, billionaire Elon Musk stood up in support of Reform UK Member of Parliament Rupert Lowe. The MP had urged others to ignore the UK prime minister's calls to vote against a full national inquiry into the Pakistani rape gangs. "They should ignore him and do the right thing," he wrote on X.
Musk supported Lowe by writing, "For all those poor little girls who were so terribly abused, many of whom died, they should do the right thing," in a post on X.
According to the Guardian, an inquiry by Professor Alexis Jay had reported that at least 1,400 children had been groomed and abused in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013 by Pakistan-origin men, and a 2022 inquiry found out that child sexual abuse is "endemic" across England and Wales.
