In yet another round of violence against African nationals in India, a mob at Byrathi in Bengaluru attacked four Ivory Coast nationals alleging that they were creating “nuisance” in the area on Monday night.
In January 2014, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi also came under fire when its cabinet minister Somnath Bharti mounted a vigilante-style raid on African nationals in Khirki Village, Delhi.
According to reports, the residents pelted stones at an African national, who sped by on a motorcycle and then they hurled stones at a car with four Africans.
The incident came to light following a video posted by Maria John on the Facebook page of the Bengaluru Police alleging that 20 drunken youth in the Byrathi area attacked the African student with a beer bottle and a cricket bat.
Click here to watch the incident on video.
According to a report in The Hindu, the attack on the Ivory Coast nationals started at 12:30am on Tuesday morning. “The mob ran riot till about 3am, attacking any African they saw... I was also threatened for calling the police,” a resident said.
The four Arfican nationals, David and his three friends — Sako, Merveil, Abdel — were walking down the road when they were assaulted. “We didn’t even know why they were hitting us. We feared for our lives,” he said. “The incident took place when I and three others were returning home. I was chased and beaten up until 3am. Have sustained multiple injuries,” David said.
The police were initially tight-lipped about the incident. They maintained it was a verbal duel which resulted in “incidents of pushing and jostling”.
“I was there at the Kothanur police station. I interacted with the African nationals and they told me that it was a minor incident, and there was no attack on them,” Additional Commissioner of Police (law and order), Alok Kumar told PTI. The Africans do not want to file a case, he added.
However, police would take suo motu cognisance
of the reported multiple injuries sustained by David and find out whether he
suffered those injuries during the attack, Kumar said.
“We will take suo motu cognisance of the alleged
injuries sustained by John and find out the truth,” he added.
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