LONDON – The hate crimes against Muslims, Sikhs and other minoritycommunities living in Britain have witnessed a drastic increase in last fewmonths.

In a recent such move, A Sikh law student in the UK felt ‘victimised’ afterhe was dragged out of a bar because he was wearing a turban, media reportssaid. Amrik Singh, 22, claimed that he was ordered to leave Rush Late Barin Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, for wearing his religious headgear, BBCreported. Singh was told that the bar had a “no headwear” policy.

He tried to explain to a bouncer who approached him that the turbanprotected his hair and was part of his religion. But his pleas were ignored- and he was “dragged away” from his friends before being removed from thevenue, the report said. Singh was also allegedly told, “I didn’t think youwere allowed to come to a pub and drink anyway.”

“I’m heartbroken. The reason why I was removed was because I refused toremove my turban,” he wrote on Facebook. Singh said the bouncer hadapproached him saying that he needed to remove my turban, the report said.

“I explained that a turban isn’t just headgear, but part of my religion andthat it protected my hair – and that I was allowed to wear a turban inpublic,” he said. “The bouncer ignored this and said I needed to take itoff. I refused and was subsequently dragged away from my friends,” he added.

“The fact that I was being removed because of my religious views reallyupset me. My ancestors have fought for the British army previously,” theSun reported.

“Furthermore, me and my parents were born in Britain and all uphold Britishvalues. “The worst part of it was the fact he compared my turban to wearinga pair of trainers,” Singh, a final year law student at Nottingham TrentUniversity, added.

The management, however, has apologised and said the staff involved facedsuspension pending an investigation. In a statement to the Labourcouncillor for Mansfield, Sonya Ward, Rush Late Bar said that it was nottheir policy.

“Good morning, this is absolutely NOT our policy. We are investigating thisincident and the security member in question has been suspended,” Wardshared the statement on Twitter. In February, an Indian Sikh environmentalactivist’s turban was ripped by a white man shouting “Muslim go back”during a racist attack outside the UK Parliament.