The consequence seems about average for a youth incident like this - and it is overboard to seek some sort of religious level of justice. We're dealing with a Pakistani/Muslim mentality, that doesn't mean we should return injury for injury like they would.
To the Seikhs, I'd add - do you have good lawyers? I would think a life-long project to grow your hair a certain way would fetch a high-end assessment on a damage suit. The family, if it teaches intolerance, could be held liable too - and you could add a claim for unusual emotional suffering. The battle would allow for discovery of what's going on in the Ahmed clan and neighborhood - that too is good for extending the public debate.
First things first: can you assess a hairdo like the one Ahmend destroyed?
