Body-worn footage released last Monday showed 18-year-old Henry Nowak handcuffed after being fatally stabbed in Southampton in December 2025, gasping “I can’t breathe” as police officers believed the lies of his killer. Vickrum Digwa, who has been jailed for life, falsely claimed he had been racially abused and acted in self-defence, carrying a blade he said was for religious reasons linked to his Sikh faith.
Now the backlash has spread far beyond the courtroom. Dabinderjit Singh, a senior executive at the Sikh Foundation, said attacks on Sikhs had taken place “up and down the country” every day since Digwa was sentenced, comparing the climate to the aftermath of the 1984 storming of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, when at least 400 people died. Speaking at a London march commemorating the 42nd anniversary of Operation Blue Star, Singh described how Sikhs – “children, men, women, pensioners, doctors, people going shopping, people walking in the park” – had been assaulted. “One person went to the gym, and he was told, ‘We’re going to hang you by your turban’. What if somebody gets killed?”
“Sikh leader compares backlash to Nowak murder to 1984 Amritsar massacre; daily assaults reported since killer sentenced.”
In a joint statement, 11 Sikh MPs declared that Nowak’s murder was “not about Sikhism”. It was, they said, “about a man carrying an offensive weapon and committing a brutal murder”. The weapon Digwa used, they insisted, was not a religious kirpan but an offensive weapon. The Sikh Federation has condemned the Crown Prosecution Service for not making this clear during the trial, claiming the community has been “demonised”. The CPS retorted that Digwa chose to carry two ceremonial knives, and the judge’s finding of fact agreed with its assessment that the weapon used was a kirpan.
The case has reignited the knife laws debate. Under Section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, religious reasons can provide a lawful defence for carrying most knives in public. The judge who sentenced Digwa said he was carrying a knife in a sheath as well as a second, larger dagger linked to his tradition as a member of the Nihang order of Sikhs, but ruled no religious protection applied.
Prominent figures have stoked the fire. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, urged people to respond to the bodycam footage with “pure, cold rage”. Kemi Badenoch and Sir Keir Starmer accused him of politicising the killing against the family’s wishes. On Friday, US vice-president JD Vance called for “righteous anger” and blamed the murder on immigration. Violent disorder has already erupted in Southampton following protests over the police response.
“We were the first ones to condemn it,” Singh said, “and yet our community has experienced exactly what we experienced 42 years ago. If you’re a Sikh, then you’re a potential victim.”