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Community outraged at the attack on Hindu priest in New Jersey

The attack on Hindu priest Devendra Shukla in Mahwah, New Jersey and the response of authorities to it has generated outrage in the community.
The state attorney general’s office said the Bergen County prosecutor’s office will investigate the incident as a potential bias crime. A spokeswoman for the county prosecutor would not confirm this and said she cannot comment on any active investigation, according to wnyc.org
According to a report filed with the Ramsey Police Department, Shukla, and his 6-year-old daughter were driving through the parking lot of a local mall. Alleged assailant Nicholas Dow, 30, got out of his car and began punching Shukla. He then got back in his car and drove off.
The report said, ‘Mr. Shukla was visibly upset, crying and had a laceration on his lip, with what appeared to be blood coming out of the laceration.’
Shukla told Mahwah police that the man shouted obscenities and called him a ‘dirty Indian.’
‘My six-year-old daughter crouched in the back of the car, screaming as I was attacked and is totally traumatized by the incident.’
Ramsey police identified the alleged assailant as Nicholas Dow, a 30-year-old white male whose listed address is adjacent to the Hindu Samaj Temple of Mahwah, where Shukla is employed and resides.
Dow told officers he had gotten into a verbal altercation with Shukla after being cut off by the priest’s car, but denied assaulting him. According to officers, the camera footage from a nearby Shoprite caught an “unknown party” approaching the driver’s side of Shukla’s car but did not capture their interaction.
In an interview with WNYC, Shukla, 43, said he regularly took walks in the area of the temple, for health reasons, and often in Indian clothing. These walks usually took him past Dow’s home. He worried that Dow had witnessed him during these walks and developed animosity toward him. Since the assault Shukla said he has stopped going on walks.
“When I’m talking with you, my heart is shaking. I’m not really in good strength right now.”
According to the police report, Dow was charged with simple assault and burglary, and transported to Bergen County jail.
However, a temple trustee, Dinesh Khosla, said when he spoke with the Bergen County prosecutor’s office over the weekend, officials viewed the episode as a road rage incident and were prepared to offer Dow a plea deal, resulting in probation. This angered members of the Hindu community, who argued that it would amount to a slap on the wrist. In response, they initiated a Change.org petition, calling for “a criminal trial with maximum punishment.”
Khosla said the community reached out to Attorney General Gurbir Grewal’s office about the case, and it resulted in action.
‘Earlier this month, my office released bias incident investigation standards that reaffirm our commitment to these important cases,’ Attorney General Grewal said in a statement. ‘I have every confidence that the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office will conduct a thorough investigation.’
Members of the Hindu community are worried that Dow is a white supremacist. On his Facebook page, there were two images of Confederate flags, and on one of them the caption read: "Doesn't stand for hate it's about pride." Those images have since been removed.
Dow told WNYC that he had no comment at this time. When asked about the Confederate images on Facebook, he said there were no such images. The name on the Facebook page was changed.

https://www.wnyc.org/story/hindus-claim-assault-nj-priest-bias-attack/