Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi has stepped in asking Karnataka government to act immediately after a Tanzanian student was stripped and assaulted in Bengaluru. Rahul has sought an explanation from the state government over the incident.
Meanwhile, Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj has condemned the incident and expressed "pain" over the assault after authorities in the east African country raised the matter with the Indian government. "We are deeply pained over the shameful incident with a Tanzanian girl in Bengaluru," Sushma tweeted, adding that she has asked the state government to ensure the safety and security of all foreign students.
"I spoke to the Chief Minister Karnataka. He informed me that a criminal case has been registered and four accused have been arrested," she tweeted.
Reports said the 21-year-old woman from Tanzania studying in Bengaluru was allegedly assaulted, stripped and paraded naked by an angry mob in the outskirts of the city on Sunday night.
Bengaluru Police said she was allegedly molested by a mob in Hesaraghatta, but denied reports that she was stripped and paraded naked. Police Commissioner NS Megharikh said it was not a case of racism but that the mob atacked her and her friends out of "rage" over an accident involving a Sudanese national at the same spot a short while earlier.
"This is a case of road rage, not racism. There is no racism in Bengaluru. I can assure the African community of full security," he said.
Megharikh also denied reports that police present at the spot did nothing to prevent the assault on her and that initially the local station refused to register her complaint.
He said the women recorded her statement only two days after the incident because "she was in a state of shock". The police commissioner, however, did not have a convincing answer when asked how he was so sure it was not a racist attack.
"It is incorrect to say that the girl was paraded naked. The driver of her car was assaulted. Police immediately reached the spot and the driver was taken to hospital," Megharikh said.
Reports said the assault happened a few minutes after another car, driven by a Sudanese student, ran over a 35-year-old local woman. While the Sudanese student escaped after the accident, the Tanzanian woman and her friends, all African nationals, who reached the spot a short while afterwards, were targeted by a mob.
Reports also said police initially refused to register a case saying that they would take action only if she brought in the driver who ran over the 35-year-old woman.
A city-based association of African nationals pointed out that the second car arrived on the scene a full 30 minutes later and that they were not even remotely connected to the ones who were involved in the accident.
“She’s Tanzanian, the man who caused the accident comes from Sudan, they didn't even know each other," said Bosco Kaweesi, legal adviser, All African Students Union in Bengaluru.
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