British Sikhs fined after attack on fellow Sikh

A British court has ordered three Sikh men to pay 500 pounds each ($832) to a fellow Sikh for a vicious attack near a Sikh temple in the British West Midlands county of Warwickshire, media reported Tuesday.

Appearing before the Warwick Crown Court, Gurinderjit Singh, along with his two Sikh accomplices, admitted to battering the victim, Jujhar Singh Flora, in a violent attack of "almost animal ferocity" in August last year in Warwickshire, the Birmingham Mail reported Tuesday.

Gurinderjit Singh, 21, of Walsall county, and Santokh Singh Sahota, 60, and Harpreet Singh Sahota, 29, both from Coventry City in West Midlands, had pleaded guilty to a charge of affray.

The three men were also sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work.

Gurinderjit Singh was a member of the Baba Vadbhag Singh temple in north Warwickshire.

According to the prosecution, Flora, who belonged to a nearby Sikh temple with different views, had expressed "negative views" about Baba Vadbhag on Facebook.

A fight ensued when Flora refused to remove the comments.

Police intervened and arrested the trio.

A judge said he was amazed it happened in the grounds of a temple "which holds itself out to have principles of truth, compassion, humility and love", the report stated.

The judge, in his sentence, said Singh and his two accomplices had shamed their faith with their attack on the victim.

"You hold yourselves out to be followers of a peaceful, loving religion. You brought shame on it," the judge said.

"What happened that day, it was shameful," he added.

Harpreet Sahota and Gurinderjit Singh told the court that they were ashamed of their conduct.