A racist turn in Bengaluru

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Less than four months after an Australian man was violently harassed for sporting a tattoo of an Indian goddess, Bengaluru is in the news again, for sinking to new lows of bigotry and vigilantism. This time it was a Tanzanian woman at the receiving end of mob fury. It all reportedly began with an accident in which a Sudanese national drove his car over a 35-year-old woman, killing her. A mob quickly gathered, determined to mete out instant justice. When he managed to flee, his car was burnt down. Half an hour later, a Tanzanian student who happened to be passing by with her friends stopped by to inquire what was going on. The mob turned its ire on her and her three friends even though they were in no way connected to the Sudanese man involved in the accident — other than being, in the eyes of the mob, of the same race as the Sudanese, African. She was chased, assaulted, and had her clothes torn by the mob before being rescued. Her car, too, was torched. The incident occurred on Sunday, but the police did not register a complaint until Tuesday. The lackadaisical response of the law and order machinery prompted the Tanzanian High Commission to register a protest with the Indian government. This, in turn, prompted External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to write to Karnataka Chief Minister K. Siddaramaiah. By Thursday, four suspects had been arrested and investigations are currently on.

The entire episode raises a disturbing question: is it any longer possible, or even plausible, to express shock at what has happened? Such acts of violence are not peculiar to Bengaluru alone. Indeed, something like this did happen, not too long ago, in Delhi. Under the controversial guidance of a Law Minister of the State, African women were branded as ‘prostitutes’ and molested in a ‘midnight raid’. The Bengaluru mob, too, seems to have given free rein to racism. The repeated targeting of Africans suggests a case of pathological colourism — discrimination and hostility directed against dark-skinned people. Indians’ cultural preference for fair skin is well known, and amply attested by the vast market for fairness creams. It is quite common to find people remark admiringly on how ‘fair’ a newborn baby is. And matrimonial advertisements are notorious for seeking ‘fair’ brides. However, to reduce the depressing message from this episide to skin colour alone would be to underestimate the discrimination and violence in India against those who are visibly ‘different’. Some years ago, Bengaluru saw an exodus of young people from northeastern India residing in the city after rumours spread of violence targeting them. In the national capital, even as the megalopolis becomes more cosmopolitan, the periodicity of assaults on residents from the northeast is such that there appears to be a pattern. Certainly, both the citizenry and the law and order machinery need to be sensitised to the prejudices. But the task can only be achieved if strong political expression is given to the essential value of diversity and tolerance.

A racist turn in Bengaluru - The Hindu

 

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Tanzanian national recounts the ordeal he and a woman went through on Sunday evening, when a mob thrashed them
Two policemen who were present when the 24-year-old Tanzanian student was attacked and allegedly stripped by an angry mob at Soladevanahalli on Sunday evening did not come to her rescue, it has now emerged. Worse, they pushed one of the students back towards the mob when he pleaded for protection, the girl recalled while narrating the ordeal to Home Minister G. Parameshwar on Thursday, police sources confirmed.

Mr. Parameshwara himself drew a spate of criticism on Thursday after he said the attack was not racial and that she would not have been targeted had there been no accident in the area involving an African student.

“My friend Hashim Jamal, who was driving the car, was dragged out by the mob and beaten up,” the victim, a student of Acharya Institutes in the city, told the media after meeting the Home Minister.

“Shockingly, there were cops at the spot and they did not come to our rescue. I saw two cops to whom Jamal ran for help. But they not only refused to protect him, but pushed him back at the mob. Hashim, again for a second time, went and fell at their feet and pleaded that if he were to die he would rather it happened at the police station, after which they acted to control the mob.”

Senior police officials who were part of the meeting also confirmed that the girl reported this to the Home Minister and Police Commissioner N.S Megharik, who met the victim at Yeshwanthpur police station.

The girl is reported to have told the Minister that when she approached the police for help soon after the incident on Sunday night, she was asked to get the Sudanese national who caused the accident.

When she protested that she did not know the Sudanese national, the policeman allegedly made a racist remark.

Meanwhile, though the victim was unable to provide more information to identify the two cops, senior police officials said finding them wouldn’t be difficult. “It is part of the probe and we will not spare them,” a senior official leading the investigation said.

A group of students from Tanzania including a 21-year-old girl who were allegedly beaten up and molested by an angry mob before setting fire to their car in Soladevanahalli on Sunday night are running from pillar to post to get their complaint registered.

The incident occurred when the victims who are Business Management students of Acharya College were on their way to the city, some time after a Sudanese student knocked down a 32-year-old woman pedestrian, killing her on the spot.

A mob beat Mohammed Ahad Ismail, (20) and set fire to his car before handing him over to the police. Another mob attacked the group of students passing by the same road half-an-hour later.

One of the victims said that the mob pulled out the students and bashed them up while the girl was molested and her cloths were torn in the melee. The mob even beat up one of the students who tried to help the girl by offering his T-shirt to cover her up.

The girl began to run for cover and tried to board a BMTC bus which slowed down, but one of the passengers pushed her out.

The victims managed to escape while the mob turned their car upside down before setting it on fire. The students reached Soladevanahalli to file a complaint but said the police refused to take up the complaint, asking them to fetch the persons involved in the road accident .

The victims later approached their association who in turn decided to approach the Tanzanian Embassy for help.

 

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Tanzanian national recounts the ordeal he and a woman went through on Sunday evening, when a mob thrashed them
Two policemen who were present when the 24-year-old Tanzanian student was attacked and allegedly stripped by an angry mob at Soladevanahalli on Sunday evening did not come to her rescue, it has now emerged. Worse, they pushed one of the students back towards the mob when he pleaded for protection, the girl recalled while narrating the ordeal to Home Minister G. Parameshwar on Thursday, police sources confirmed.

Mr. Parameshwara himself drew a spate of criticism on Thursday after he said the attack was not racial and that she would not have been targeted had there been no accident in the area involving an African student.

“My friend Hashim Jamal, who was driving the car, was dragged out by the mob and beaten up,” the victim, a student of Acharya Institutes in the city, told the media after meeting the Home Minister.

“Shockingly, there were cops at the spot and they did not come to our rescue. I saw two cops to whom Jamal ran for help. But they not only refused to protect him, but pushed him back at the mob. Hashim, again for a second time, went and fell at their feet and pleaded that if he were to die he would rather it happened at the police station, after which they acted to control the mob.”

Senior police officials who were part of the meeting also confirmed that the girl reported this to the Home Minister and Police Commissioner N.S Megharik, who met the victim at Yeshwanthpur police station.

The girl is reported to have told the Minister that when she approached the police for help soon after the incident on Sunday night, she was asked to get the Sudanese national who caused the accident.

When she protested that she did not know the Sudanese national, the policeman allegedly made a racist remark.

Meanwhile, though the victim was unable to provide more information to identify the two cops, senior police officials said finding them wouldn’t be difficult. “It is part of the probe and we will not spare them,” a senior official leading the investigation said.

A group of students from Tanzania including a 21-year-old girl who were allegedly beaten up and molested by an angry mob before setting fire to their car in Soladevanahalli on Sunday night are running from pillar to post to get their complaint registered.

The incident occurred when the victims who are Business Management students of Acharya College were on their way to the city, some time after a Sudanese student knocked down a 32-year-old woman pedestrian, killing her on the spot.

A mob beat Mohammed Ahad Ismail, (20) and set fire to his car before handing him over to the police. Another mob attacked the group of students passing by the same road half-an-hour later.

One of the victims said that the mob pulled out the students and bashed them up while the girl was molested and her cloths were torn in the melee. The mob even beat up one of the students who tried to help the girl by offering his T-shirt to cover her up.

The girl began to run for cover and tried to board a BMTC bus which slowed down, but one of the passengers pushed her out.

The victims managed to escape while the mob turned their car upside down before setting it on fire. The students reached Soladevanahalli to file a complaint but said the police refused to take up the complaint, asking them to fetch the persons involved in the road accident .

The victims later approached their association who in turn decided to approach the Tanzanian Embassy for help.

So if somebody attacked an African it becomes racist when the Sudanese boys moweddown a indian Muslim girl have Africans declared war on islam , it is just a law and order problem that's all. The relatives and the local people are fedup with this unruly drugpeddling Africans hence they attack attacked any one who looked like an African.