An Amritdhari SCHOOLBOY was allegedly threatened with being stabbed and had his turban pulled at in a hate-fuelled attack aboard a suburban bus.
The 13-year-old is so terrified he is afraid to travel to and from school alone.
Two males and a female ringleader — all believed to be in their late teens — are being sought.
Harjeet Singh was riding the bus home on Tuesday last week about 3.25pm when the trio boarded at Doncaster shopping centre.
The female demanded to know why Harjeet was wearing a “towel” on his head and twice tried to remove his turban despite the terrified boy trying to get away.
It’s alleged one of the males was also involved and the boy sworn at.
Mother Rajinder Kaur Gill told the Herald Sun: “My son was so scared and he was crying”.
“It’s a horrible thing. I’m just scared if it’s safe for him on the bus.
“We are worried it’s not just my son — we are worried it will be other people as well.
“It should not happen to anyone.”
Harjeet, who attends Doncaster Secondary College, was sitting in the middle row of the route 902 bus when the offenders approached from the back seat.
The ordeal lasted until Eltham when Harjeet got off the bus early with schoolfriends, also in tears.
One of their mothers drove Harjeet home.
“The girl pushed my son’s turban with her elbow,’’ Mrs Gill said.
“My son moved from his seat to get further away from them and they followed him and sat behind him again.
“This time the girl pushed him hard and tried to remove his turban again.
“My son was scared and he asked them to stop but they laughed at him and they said there aren’t that many stabbings in Eltham.”
Uncle Sukhvir Singh, who helped alert police as did a passenger, said the turban held special significance for Sikhs.
“For a Sikh it’s taking your pride off — removing the turban is an extremely bad thing in our culture,’’ he said.
“For a small kid you can imagine how difficult it is for him to ride the same bus.
“He is a little boy and he is tormented with this incident”.
“This is a beautiful country and we should stop this kind of thing happening.”
Victoria Police spokesman Leading Sen-Constable Paul Turner said police were investigating reports of an assault.
“The investigation is in its infancy and it would be inappropriate to provide further comment at this time,’’ he said.
Information to Crime Stoppers, 1800 333 000.