Image

Mob attack on girl: Tanzania envoy heads to Bangalore

by IBNS 05 Feb 2016, 07:59 am

Bangalore, Feb 5 (IBNS) A delegation team headed by Tanzanian High Commissioner John Kijazi is heading for Bangalore to probe the attack on a Tanzanian student by a mob on Sunday, according to reports.

Kijazi has termed the incident 'racist', and was quoted by NDTV as saying, "This should not happen in the 21st century. It's not a once in a while event, they come several times in a year."

The delegation will be accompanied by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar.

On Sunday night, a mob of 200 angry protesters allegedly dragged and stripped a Tanzanian student after they drove past an area where a Sudanese driver had ran over a woman.

She said she was dragged out of her car and stripped. Later they set her car ablaze. A minister in Karnataka government, however, said she was not stripped. 

The girl termed it a race attack and complained, "The mob of Indians started chasing and throwing stones at us in the car because they saw we were Africans."

Describing her plight, she said that later when she and her friends went to catch a bus, she was pushed out of it and further beaten by the mob.

"We went into a bus but the driver did not want to move and the people in the bus started to beat us and pushed us outside...I fell on the steps of the bus. The Indians pulled me and continued to beat us."

Meanwhile, the Karnataka government said that it wasn't a race attack and downplayed all claims made by the victim.

Condemning the Incident, Spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry, Vikas Swarup said that it is shameful and regrettable but maintained that it is one of a kind incident. 
 
India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also condemned the incident and sought a speedy report on it. 
 
Five were arrested earlier in the attack.