British Sikh MP beefs up security after receiving email saying 'watch your back'
London, Mar 5: Britain's first female Sikh Member of Parliament, Preet Kaur Gill, said she was forced to bolster her security after receiving a "direct threat" by email asking her to "watch your back".
Gill, 50, is the Opposition Labour MP for Birmingham, Edgbaston, and a frontbench politician as the shadow secretary of state for international development.
She told GB News' on Saturday that she worried for her family's safety as she went about her regular duties as an MP, holding "surgery" meetings with her local constituents.
"It was very direct. It is a worry because I'm with my daughters in the constituency all the time. My family live there. It really puts into context the kind of job that you do," she told the channel.
"This latest direct threat has worried me. As a woman, when you put yourself forward and you want to address injustices and you care about issues that affect your constituents, you're then faced with people that think it's OK to say this sort of stuff to you. I could not believe that this person used their place of work email to make that threat," she said.
"Normally most people would probably use an alias, or try different ways of sort of creating a hate campaign. I've had huge amounts of hate campaigns created against me through WhatsApp groups too," she added.
She revealed that she had informed West Midlands Police about the threat and uses a bodyguard for security.
"It's something I discuss with my team. I worry not just about my safety but about theirs. I don't want to restrict my surgeries, I don't want to go to an appointment-based system, I want to be able to be open and be in my community and make sure that people feel that they can have that access to myself," she noted.
Speaking of her ethnicity, the frontline politician said that being the first female Sikh MP in the UK Parliament can be "quite isolating" in terms of support.
"And so, sometimes I think that is really quite tough as a woman facing so much kind of hate and criticism when you are trying to do something good," she added.
In December 2021, Gill came under fire on social media over a tweet she later deleted that referred to a "Hindu terrorist" behind the act of violence at Golden Temple in Amritsar.
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Chhattisgarh: FIR against Vedanta group chairman Anil Agarwal, others after blast kills 20 workers
Sakti (Chhattisgarh) (PTI): The Chhattisgarh police on Thursday registered an FIR against Vedanta Group chairman Anil Agarwal and others in connection with the blast at the firm's power plant in Sakti district that claimed 20 lives, an official said.
The explosion occurred on April 14 at the Vedanta plant in Singhitarai village when a steel tube carrying high-pressure steam from the boiler to the turbine burst, leaving several workers with severe burn injuries. The incident claimed 20 lives and left 16 persons injured.
A case has been registered at Dabhra police station under sections 106 (causing death by negligence), 289 (negligent conduct with respect to machinery) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Sakti Superintendent of Police Prafull Thakur said.
"Eight to ten individuals, including Vedanta Group chairman Anil Agarwal, have been named in the FIR. If more persons are found responsible during the investigation, their names will be added," Thakur told PTI.
Investigation into the incident is underway and several reports are awaited, including post-mortem reports of the deceased and findings from the forensic science laboratory and the industrial health and safety department, he said.
"A technical team has also been constituted to probe the cause of the blast. Further sections will be added if required after all reports are received," the SP said.
Following the incident, the opposition Congress had demanded registration of an FIR against the plant management and a judicial inquiry into it.
