The names of the victims have been changed to protect their identities.
On Friday, 30th May 2025, Ravi attended university and arrived in Harrow at approximately 3:00 PM, where he met his friend Yash at Harrow-on-the-Hill train station in London.
Together, they made their way to Harrow Recreation Ground, a local public park where they were brutally attacked for being Hindu-Indian.
After sitting briefly, they joined a group of friends who were playing cricket and participated for approximately 30 to 40 minutes. They were later joined by their friend Neel, and the three of them continued to watch the cricket game for another 10 to 15 minutes before deciding to visit a nearby shop for drinks and snacks.
As they were leaving the cricket area, Ravi and his friends turned briefly to glance back at their friends who were still playing cricket to acknowledge them. At that moment, a Muslim family, including approximately seven to eight individuals, appeared to mistakenly believe that Ravi and his friends were looking at them. The group included elderly women wearing hijabs, children, and three male individuals.
A younger male from the family aggressively approached Ravi and his friends and said, “What’s your problem? What are you looking at?” Ravi and his friends responded calmly, stating they were simply watching their friends play cricket. Ravi also made a conscious effort to de-escalate the situation and said, “I’m sorry if you think we were looking at you, but we weren’t.”
Shortly after, the younger male returned with an older male relative, who again confronted the group. Ravi again tried to diffuse the tension by explaining they were looking at the cricket match behind the family and not at the family themselves. The older male appeared to accept this explanation, and the three friends proceeded to the shop and returned shortly thereafter.
Upon returning, they sat on a bench in the park. At approximately 6:00 PM, Ravi, Yash, and Neel were re-approached by three male individuals, including the same older male from earlier. The men became verbally aggressive, standing very close to the seated group and seeing the religious symbols on the wrists of Ravi, they questioned them about their ethnicity: “What are you? Where are you from, are you local? Are you Indian? Are you Sri Lankan?” In response, Neel said, “Yeah, we are,” at which point the suspects launched a physical assault.
All three victims were punched repeatedly while seated and unable to defend themselves effectively. When the victims would try to move away or get up, they would be pushed back down, making it very difficult to move. Ravi and Yash sustained a blow to the head that caused them to become unconscious during the attack at different points. Ravi has no memory of the events while unconscious and only recalls regaining consciousness as paramedics were attending to him.
Before emergency services arrived, several friends from the cricket group ran over to help, providing water and attempting to assist Ravi and the others. It is unknown who called emergency services, but it is possible one of these individuals did. These individuals may also serve as potential witnesses.
The police and ambulance arrived at approximately 6:18 PM. Ravi was taken by ambulance to Northwick Park Hospital, where he was later joined by his mother and sister.
Police officers from Wembley Police Station attended the hospital but were unable to take a formal statement from Ravi and Yash due to the head injuries they had sustained.
At the hospital, Ravi underwent a CT scan and a trauma scan of the head. The scans revealed a facial fracture under the eye and near the nose and a laceration to the eyebrow, which required stitches.
The family returned home from the hospital at approximately 3:30 AM on Saturday, 31st May.
In relation to police statements, Neel, who did not lose consciousness, gave a statement to police on the night of the incident, and Ravi and Yash gave their statements on 3rd June at home.
Ravi recalled descriptions of two of the three suspects as a tall male with long hair, a beard, light brown skin, wearing a vest and another tall male with light brown skin, wearing a Moroccan football shirt with “Hakimi” written on the back.
It is believed the initial altercation stemmed from a misunderstanding, where the suspects wrongly assumed that Ravi and his friends were looking at the female members of their family, particularly the elderly women in hijabs, which led to the escalation and attack.
Lack of urgency from the Police
The response from the Police has been unacceptable. The family of one of the victims have confirmed that a statement was not taken until Tuesday, 3rd of June, three and a half days after the attack occurred, despite the family following up regularly.
Since taking the statement, it is deeply shocking and disturbing to learn about the lack of urgency from the Police in this case. The Detective Constable (DC) handling the case was “out of office” until Monday 9th June (for 6 days) and therefore no updates, response or progress was made in the case. Did the Police not deem it important to have an officer cover the case in the absence of the originally assigned detective?
On 5th June, the family followed up again via phone call to the CID office, where another officer answered, only to learn that the Police had not yet even checked the CCTV cameras in the area. They also followed up with an email to the Detective Sergeant (who is the line manager of the DC handling the case), asking for an update to which they had not received any response.
The Detective assigned to the case returned for 3 days and responded once to the family despite their many emails and was again “out of office” until 16th June, leaving the family and victims with no updates and no progress in the case, 14 days since the attack.
Needless to say, this is a shocking lack of responsibility, urgency and competency by the Metropolitan Police. INSIGHT UK will be escalating this issue to the relevant authorities.
