In a shocking turn of events in Bengaluru’s Hesaraghatta on Sunday , a 21-year-old Tanzanian girl studying at the Acharya College, was stripped naked and was paraded in front of a crowd by a mob, as her friends were beaten up after their car was burnt.
The incident occurred on Sunday night when an angry mob collected at a spot where a car ran over a 35-year-old resident of Hesaraghatta. The situation escalated when the girl with her friends arrived at the scene 30 minutes after the accident. They were pulled out of the car by the mob which dragged the students out, set fire to their WagonR car, and beat up the students, India Today reported.
The girl was then stripped and paraded naked, as police stood by and watched, while a person who came forward to help her by offering a t-shirt was also assaulted by the mob. The girl then tried to board a bus to escape, but was pushed out by passengers, The News Minute reported.
The local African association said that the man who ran over the woman was from Sudan, and was not known to the girl who was Tanzanian. Despite this when the girl rushed to the police station to register an FIR, they refused to do so unless she brought the man responsible for the accident.
Bosco Kaweesi of the All African Students Union told Deccan Chronicle that, “When the girl did not even know about the accident or the spot where it happened, how can she bring in the driver of the car,” he added that, The Tanzanian Embassy on Monday sought a detailed report on the incident from student leaders to pursue the issue diplomatically.”
While the students lost their valuables and documents including passports, they were not even able to contact their parents since their phones were lost. Kaweesi said, “the local residents on Sunday night went hunting for houses where Africans stayed and harassed them. They stopped vehicles to check if there were any Africans inside.”
The union alleged that the incident was instigated by local politicians, and also called for reconciliation between the African community and local residents.