Hate-crime charge for voicemails that threatened employees of civil rights group
Publishing date: 18 June 2024
Published in: Courier Post
A political dispute some 7,000 miles away spawned a hate crime against employees of a civil rights organization in South Jersey, authorities say.
The victims were local Sikhs, followers of a religion with roots in the Punjab area of South Asia.
The alleged offender: A Texas man who came to this country from India and was enraged over calls by some Sikhs for a homeland to be known as Khalistan.
Bhushan Athale, 48, of Dallas, allegedly left seven voicemails — “containing a threat of force and a message of hatred based on religion” — for a female employee of an unidentified Sikh-advocacy group in Burlington County, says an affidavit attached to a criminal complaint.
The employee described the voicemails, left over a single hour in September 2022, as “very filthy and threatening,” the affidavit says.
“Essentially saying that if we (Sikhs) want Khalistan, that he will scalp us and kill us. It is very very profane,” the woman wrote in a message to her colleagues.
Two more voicemails in March 2024 expressed hatred for Sikhs and Muslims, the affidavit says,
In the voicemails, in English and Hindi, the caller threatened to cut the hair of the Sikhs with a razor and to make them consume tobacco.
The June 4 complaint notes Sikhs “are not supposed to cut or shave hair from any part of their body” and are prohibited from using “any intoxicants, including tobacco products.”
The employee initially called Athale’s number after he left no message with his first two of nine calls. She hung up when Athale allegedly brought up Khalistan and cursed at her, the affidavit says.
It adds the string of voicemails, “which were filled with violent imagery and obscenity, contained references to places, people and tenets that are particularly significant within the Sikh religion.”
The 22-page affidavit includes a history of Sikhism and Hinduism, the largest religions in India along with Islam.
It notes Sikhs, totaling more than 25 million worldwide, make up about 2 percent of India’s population. That compares to more than 1 billion Hindus worldwide, who represent about 80 percent of all Indians.
India’s second largest religion, Islam, has more than 1.5 billion adherents around the globe. Its members make up about 14 percent of India’s population.
The affidavit identifies Athale as a naturalized U.S. citizen and a Hindu.
It says the woman reported the voicemails to police “and expressed worry that the caller might be able to find her home address and harm her.”
The woman and her spouse requested police patrols near their home, and purchased security devices and weapons for their self defense, the complaint continues.
Another employee of the nonprofit also felt the messages were threatening and told investigators he knew of people who’d been killed for practicing Sikhism.
The organization removed some online information for its employees’ safety. It has also explored ways to better protect them during trips to India, the affidavit says.
Athale is charged with making an interstate threats and interfering with federally protected activities through the threatened use of a dangerous weapon.
The charges are only allegations. Athale has not been convicted in the case.
He could not be reached for comment.
A national organization, the New York-based Sikh Coalition, responded to the arrest with a statement saying, “No community — including our own — should be targeted for hate violence or rhetoric because of their faith,”
It expressed gratitude “that this case, and these kinds of threats in general, are increasingly being treated with the seriousness they deserved by authorities.”