Radio host assaulted in Brampton

Three men attacked Deepak Punj outside his studio in Brampton, Ont., days after the Frontline Radio host had denounced anti-India protesters. 

Punj told Peel Regional Police that one of the attackers threatened him with a gun while another hit him on the head with a beer bottle, reported the Globe and Mail, of the Feb. 23, 2022 assault.

The attackers warned him not to talk about the Sikh separatist Khalistan movement, which Punj had previously criticized on air, or about the death of actor Deep Sidhu, an activist connected to the movement who died in a car crash. 

On Frontline Radio the day before the attack, Punj had criticized protesters who had appeared with Khalistan flags and anti-India signs at a recent funeral vigil held for Sidhu in Brampton. 

Punj reported the attack to Peel Regional Police. 

The incident was the second attack on a media worker in Brampton in less than a year. On Sept. 14, 2021 gunshots were fired at the home of Joginder Bassi, host of the radio and TV show Gaunda Punjab.