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Canada: Cop demoted for 6 months over pro-Khalistan protest outside Hindu temple
A Canadian police officer demoted for joining a pro-Khalistan protest has sparked outrage in the Hindu community, demanding stronger consequences.
The Canadian police officer who had participated in a pro-Khalistan protest outside a Hindu temple in the Greater Toronto Area or GTA has been demoted temporarily as punishment but will return to full rank and pay after serving out that period. That lenient decision has caused concern within the Hindu community as that particular protest had turned violent.
Peel Regional Police or PRP Sergeant Harinder Sohi was among those that joined the protest called by the secessionist group Sikhs for Justice or SFJ outside the Hinu Sabha Mandir in Brampton in November 2024. Some protestors violently invaded the temple and among those charged was SFJ’s coordinator for the so-called Khalistan Referendum Inderjit Singh Gosal.
After Sohi’s presence was revealed on social media, he was suspended by PRP and taken off public-facing duties. Over a year later, the Ontario Police Arbitration and Adjudication Commission or OPAAC ruled that Sohi be demoted to the rank of 1st Class Constable for a period of six months after which he will return to his previous rank “on the basis of satisfactory work performance determined” by superior officers, the ruling noted.
The penalty decision by the OPAAC Adjudicator was delivered on November 27, 2025, but only shared with concerned members of the Hindu community last week. A copy of the decision was shared with the Hindustan Times.
In a reaction, the community group, the Canadian Organisation for Hindu Heritage Education or CoHHE said, “A slap on the wrist for Sohi is a slap on the face for the community.”
It said that Sohi’s “refusal to acknowledge that his conduct was wrong and his failure to express any remorse for the harm caused, warrants stronger discipline such as being fired” or the “penalty must convey to police officers that such misconduct carries serious and lasting consequences.”
“Peel Police’s response to the Hindu community has been dismissive and disingenuous. We will not leave any stone unturned to continue to seek equal protection for Hindus in Peel and escalate our complaints to next levels to hold Peel police accountable,” the statement added.
In the ruling, the adjudicator acknowledged that the “identified misconduct undermines public trust in the legitimacy, professionalism, and integrity of policing.”
Sohi was found guilty of misconduct as per the norms that state a “police officer shall not conduct themselves in a manner that undermines, or is likely to undermine, public trust in policing.”
But despite that, his service never sought his termination even though it also revealed that Sohi had been present and active at another pro-Khalistan protest, on October 18, 2024 in Toronto, two weeks before the November 3 violence grabbed national and global headlines.
