The government needs to hold a public inquiry into the “catastrophic multi-agency failures” surrounding the murder of student Henry Nowak, a Sikh lobby group says.
Mr Nowak, 18, was killed in Southampton by Vickrum Digwa in December 2025, using a knife prosecutors said that Digwa – a Sikh – carried as part of his religion.
Dabinderjit Singh, the Sikh Federation’s chief executive of political engagement, has now written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Justice Secretary David Lammy and Attorney General Richard Hermer calling for an inquiry.
He said that misinformation about the murder weapon had been “highly damaging” to Sikhs.
“Serious questions” remain about whether Mr Nowak’s death was preventable, the letter said, and it called the Independent Office for Police Conduct’s (IOPC) investigation into Hampshire Police “entirely insufficient”.
“While criminal justice has been served against the perpetrator, the wider systemic failures exposed by this case demand immediate, independent and transparent investigation,” Mr Singh wrote.
He said the conduct of police officers and cultural issues during the trial were among “catastrophic multi-agency failures”.
“Local intelligence indicates that Digwa was well known to law enforcement and ‘on the police radar,” he wrote.
“A wider inquiry must establish why this critical intelligence failed to inform the responding officers’ risk assessments, and whether systemic biases contributed to the immediate criminalisation of a dying victim.
“A statutory public inquiry is the only mechanism capable of delivering accountability.”
Digwa used a ceremonial knife with a 21cm blade, which prosecutors said during the trial was a kirpan he carried as part of his Sikh religion.
While he was wearing a small ceremonial kirpan knife, his second blade, described by the trial judge as “a large Sikh dagger”, was used as the murder weapon.
“Under the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 and its July 2022 statutory guidance, a kirpan is clearly defined and understood to feature a curved blade,” the letter said.
“The prosecution and police possessed the weapon for over six months; they knew, or ought to have known, that the blade of the weapon was straight, not of Sikh origin, and could not be a kirpan.
“By allowing a convicted murderer’s false characterisation of the weapon to stand unchallenged in open court, the justice system facilitated a highly damaging wave of misinformation.”
Thousands of Sikhs marched in London on Sunday, marking the 42nd anniversary of the storming of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, in which hundreds of people were killed.
The march took place in the wake of violent protests in reaction to the murder of Mr Nowak.
Mr Singh said at the march that attacks on Sikhs have taken place “up and down the country” every day since Digwa was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 21 years in prison.
Digwa had been investigated by police in 2023 on suspicion of stealing ceremonial blades from a Sikh temple in Southampton but no further action was taken.
As well as the IOPC investigation, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) announced it would review anti-racism guidance – which advises police to treat ethnic minorities differently to get them better outcomes – that some have blamed for the actions of the officers who arrested Mr Nowak.
