Tanzanian attacked: Everyone seems to be contradicting

Bengaluru, Feb 5: There are contradictions galore involving the incident in which a Tanzanian national was assaulted by an irate mob at Bengaluru on Sunday. The official version of the incident narrated by home minister of Karnataka, G Parameshwara is that the girl was assaulted by a mob which went on a rampage following an accident.

Following the incident there have been several African students who have been speaking with the media. A couple of them that OneIndia spoke with say this was a racial attack. However on the other hand they also say that it is not rampant in Bengaluru, but there is a cause for concern as people tend to differentiate us due to our skin colour.

The contradiction is relating to the actual incident and the follow up action. Students have been alleging that the police are pressurising the victim not to speak with the media, but the girl herself denies that as she has been regularly speaking with the press.

Contradictions and police action:

While on one hand there are contradictory statements that are being issued there is also a key question relating to the action taken by the police on the night of the incident. First and foremost the police were unable to get the mob under control when they went on a rampage following the accident in which an Indian lady had died.

When the mob approached the car in which the Tanzanian student was present, there is a big question mark on whether the police handled that situation well. The night patrol vehicle of the police arrived at the spot. The police took the driver of the car to the hospital.

The question is why did they leave the girl behind there with not much protection especially when the mob fury was still high. This is something that the police will have to probe into to find out if the handling of the situation was right in the first place.

The probe has been handed over to the City Crime Branch. It has in its custody five persons- Lokesh Bangari, Venkatesh Ramaiah, Saleem Pasha, Banu Prakash and Rehmatullah. The police say that they were part of the mob which assaulted the girl. Further the police say that there was no molestation and neither was the girl paraded naked as it had been alleged.

Such contradictory statements especially made to the media is only adding fuel to the fire, a police officer says. It hurts the probe and those making such statements without ascertaining facts must understand that it will not only hurt the probe but also cause panic among the other students.

OneIndia News