Sikh student sues DOE for failing to protect him from in-school violence

Claims repeated attacks were racially based, suffered facial contusion and orbital fracture

Queens Chronicle - June 11, 2009

One year to the day after former Richmond Hill High School student Jagmohan Singh Premi reported being beaten by another student in a biased-based attack, Premi has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the city’s Department of Education failed to protect him from violence in school.

Premi, now 20 and enrolled in the special education program at the Queens Occupational Training Center, was repeatedly harassed between December 2007 and June 2008 by his attacker, according to his attorney, Gurbir Grewal of Howrey, LLP. The perpetrator allegedly slashed Premi an inch below his left eye using a key as a weapon, punched him and attempted to remove his patka, the small turban he wears in accordance with the Sikh faith.

Read More