Punjab woman raped in UK racial attack; man held

A 20-year-old Indian-origin woman was attacked in a “racially aggravated” rape in the West Midlands region of England over the weekend. Local community groups claim the victim is a Punjab woman.

The attack comes weeks after the racially aggravated rape of a British Sikh woman in the nearby Oldbury area.

The police said a 32-year-old man was arrested on Monday morning on suspicion of rape after a manhunt was launched in the wake of the attack on Saturday evening.

The police said they were called to the Park Hall area of Walsall following concerns for the welfare of a woman in distress in the street.

Detective Superintendent Ronan Tyrer described the arrest in the Perry Barr area of the region as a “significant development”. “Our investigation will progress today, and, as always, our priority is the woman who was the subject of this attack,” Tyrer said.

“She has been updated this morning and will continue to receive full support from specially trained officers,” he said.

On Sunday, the police released CCTV footage of the suspect, a white male in his 30s, as part of an urgent public appeal for information related to the crime they were investigating “as a racially aggravated attack”. “This was an absolutely appalling attack on a young woman,” Tyrer said.

The attacker was described as white, in his 30s, with short hair and wearing dark clothing at the time of the attack. “At this stage, we are not linking this attack to any other offences,” Tyrer said in his statement.

Chief Superintendent Phil Dolby of Walsall Police said: “We have been speaking to people in the community to listen to and understand their concerns, and there will be an increased police presence in the coming days.”

Raising concerns over the attack, Sikh Federation UK said: “The attacker apparently broke down the door of the house where the victim was living… The West Midlands police now have two racially aggravated rapes of young women in their 20s within two months and they urgently need to find those responsible.”

The police had made a few arrests before releasing the suspects on bail in their investigation into the racially aggravated rape of the British Sikh woman in Oldbury last month.

British Sikh MPs, Preet Kaur Gill and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, took to social media to express their shock and condemnation at a feared “repeated pattern” of violent attacks on women in the region.

“The repeated pattern of violence against women in our region, compounded by hate and racial overtones, is deeply disturbing,” said Gill, Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston.

“After the shocking racially aggravated rape in Oldbury that the Sikh community is still reeling from, yet another in Walsall… need to help the police at a time when more people are feeling unsafe. Spreading of hate has real consequences,” said Dhesi, Labour MP for Slough.