1.2118384-4156816197
The attack was recorded and posted on Snapchat, before it made the rounds on Twitter. The school district says it was not rooted in hate, but spawned hate speech online. Image Credit: Twitter

The family of a 14-year-old Sikh boy beaten by a classmate in a Washington high school fears the attack on their son was racially driven.

The victim's father believes that his son was targeted because he is of Indian descent, according to US and Indian media.

The attack was video-recorded and initially posted on Snapchat. A grainy video was later posted on Twitter, showing the Kent Ridge High School freshman being punched and knocked down by his classmate.

The incident happened on October 26, less than a block from Kentridge High School, where both the boys are students, KIRO-TV reported.

Meanwhile, India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has asked the Indian Embassy in the US for a report on the alleged beating incident. 

“I have seen news reports about the beating of a Sikh boy in US. "I have asked @IndianEmbassyUS to send me a report on the incident," Sushma Swaraj tweeted.

The attack has since drawn outrage from the boy’s family, but the school district says it was not rooted in hate.

The victim’s father said he fears his son was targeted because he is of Indian descent and is a Sikh.

“I am feeling so, so bad because this happened with my son,” he said. “He never interacted with this guy. He never know his name, I don’t want to see this happen again with my son or anyone else. I don’t want to see this,” the father was quoted by a Punjabi news website.

Chris Loftis, communications director for the Kent School District, was quoted by US and Indian media said the student who attacked the boy and the student who filmed the encounter will be "appropriately punished". 

Kent is home to many practicing Sikhs. 

In March, a Sikh man was approached and shot by a gunman as he worked on his car in his suburban Seattle driveway and told him “go back to your own country.” 

Kent Police Chief Ken Thomas said then the victim was shot in the arm about 20 miles south of Seattle. The victim survived.

In March, US-based Indian businessman Harnish Patel, 43, of Lancaster, New York, was shot dead outside his house, shortly after he closed his shop at 11.24pm. Patel is survived by his wife and child in elementary school, who were at home when he was killed. 

In February, Indian software engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla was shot to death in Kansas City while his colleague Alok Madasani was wounded in a case US federal authorities saw as a possible hate crime.