After years of pressure from lawmakers and civil rights groups, America's FBI on Wednesday voted to formally track down the hate crimes against Sikhs, Hindus and Arabs in the country.
Religious and ethnic minorities in the United States have been complaining that hate crimes against them are not adequately monitored by law enforcement.
An FBI advisory board on Wednesday voted to update FBI's Hate Crime Incident Report Forms by including crimes against these communities.
The Hate Crime Incident Report Forms serve as the primary mechanism for the government to document hate crimes committed in the country and till date, the crimes against these communities have not been collected though serious hate crimes are perpetrated against these people in the country.
According to the Huffington Post, Sikhs men who usually grow beards and wear turbans in the country complained that crimes against them are often misreported as anti-Muslim.
"We can't go to policy makers or law enforcement to make the case about crimes against our communities unless we have the official data," said Rajdeep Singh, director of law and policy for the Sikh Coalition, a civil rights group that has been pushing the law enforcement for the last two years to take action.
Following the September 11 terrorist attack in the country, Sikhs, Hindus and Arabs have increasingly been victims of such hate-crime incidents.
The move is set to go into effect by 2015.
Sikh, Hindu and Arab advocates in the country are hoping to increase awareness among the law enforcement of their cultures and religions.