New Delhi: Voicing concern over a Tanzanian woman student being allegedly beaten up and stripped by a mob in Bengaluru, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi has sought a report from the Karnataka government on the incident immediately.
“Rahul Gandhi asks Karnataka Govt to explain and send report immediately,” party General Secretary Digvijay Singh said in a series of tweets.
“Strongly condemn incident with Tanzanian lady in Bangalore. Police must act strongly against the culprits,” Singh, who is in-charge of party affairs in Karnataka, said.
The Tanzanian woman student was allegedly beaten up and stripped by a mob in a case of “mistaken identity” after a woman was mowed down by a car in the city.
The 21-year-old Tanzanian, who is doing her Bachelor of Business Management course, was dragged out of the car in which she was seated along with her three friends on Sunday night.
The car was stopped by the mob shortly after they reached the accident spot on Sunday night, according to All African Students Union in Bengaluru. She was stripped by a section of the mob and pushed out of a slow-moving bus that was passing by as she tried to board it to escape, the Union’s Legal Adviser Bosco Kaweesi had said.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had termed the incident as shameful. Swaraj had spoken to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and requested him to ensure stringent punishment to the guilty.
Swaraj said Siddaramaiah informed her that a criminal case has been registered and four accused have been arrested.
Official sources in New Delhi had said the High Commission of Tanzania has sent a Note Verbale to the External Affairs Ministry about the reported attack, requesting it to take necessary legal action against the guilty.
According to the Bangalore police, the complaint by the Tanzanian girl was filed yesterday even though incident happened on Sunday.
Five arrested for assaulting Tanzanian woman in Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Feb 4 (IANS) Five people suspected of assaulting a Tanzanian woman were arrested early on Thursday, Police Commissioner N.S. Megharik said.
“We have arrested the five accused after interrogating them on Wednesday night under detention in the case registered on the victim’s statement in a road rage incident,” Megharik told IANS here.
The commissioner, however, did not disclose names and age of the five accused.
In a case of mistaken identity, a mob assaulted the victim, Lina Martin, 21, suspecting her to be a friend of a Sudanese student, Mohammad Ahad, whose car ran over a woman pedestrian (Shabana Taz) fatally while driving drunk on the same (Sunday) night.
“Arrest of the accused has been made on the basis of eye witnesses’ account and from the video footage from closed circuit television cameras (CCTV) in the area. We will produce them in a local court for custody and further interrogation,” Megharik said.
Denying reports in a section of media that the victim was stripped and paraded, Megharik said in her statement that she was only assaulted and molested in which her T-shirt was torn off.
“Though the car mishap was 30 minutes before the victim reached the spot in the other car, the mob thought she was Ahad’s friend and assaulted her,” deputy police commissioner T.R. Suresh told reporters on Wednesday night.
Ahad was also arrested on Sunday night for the fatal mishap involving his car and drunken driving.
Police did not register the case soon after the road mishap and the mob attack, as the victim was not in city for two days since Sunday to record her statement.
Report, uh? Why is he not crying ‘intolerance’ over this incident? What a genius!
Why is he not crying ‘intolerance’ over this incident? What a genius! – Rampu on Rahula Gandhi
Well, if you were to be an Indian citizen, you could have at least filed an RTI and hoped against hope that somebody in the Modi Sarkar would drop you an inland letter with the required info.
Unfortunately, you fled Indian shores for your insatiable पेट पूजा (to ‘do’ some Pest Control for that Y2K bug). So, now you’ll never know. My undue sympathies, ya Rampa! 🙁 Please learn to live with it and move on.
Report, uh? Why is he not crying ‘intolerance’ over this incident? What a genius! – Rampuji Hey genius, what’s your take on this? The pomp and ceremony are all extant but the circumstance is starting to rankle. Over the years, the taint of political patronage has essentially robbed the Padma awards of their stature and significance. This year was no different, with celebrities who backed the government on the intolerance debate having the honour of displaying a Padma award on their mantelpiece. Anupam Kher, the most vocally loyal, gets the biggest—a Padma Bhushan and tweets about it being the “biggest… Read more »
Praveen, who is quick to judge America of racism, is curiously silent on this incident.
Matthew 7:1-5 – Judge not, that ye be not judged.
Praveen, who is quick to judge America of racism, is curiously silent on this incident. – Roy Dearest Roy, FYI, it wasn’t ME who “judged” racism in the US. That was ALREADY done by the residents out there. All I did was just bring their thoughts to the kind attention of our Yumreeki Rampa because he never tires of calling India a 3rd world country while the US is a ‘Land of the FREE’ etc. Poor bloke – probably he hasn’t listened to Don William’s song – ‘Glass House’. (When you’re living in a glass house don’t go to bed… Read more »