Envoy: India’s move on abused girl encouraging
The government has expressed confidence in measures taken
to address the January 31 assault on a
New Delhi/Dar. The government has
expressed confidence in measures taken
to address the January 31 assault on a
Tanzanian girl student by a mob
following a fatal road accident in the
Indian city of Bangalore.
The confidence was expressed on Friday
by Tanzania’s High Commissioner to
India John Kijazi when addressing
Tanzanian students in the Asian country.
It was reported on Friday that four more
persons have been arrested and two
police officials suspended in connection
with the alleged assault and stripping of
the Tanzanian student.
Inspector Pravin Babu and Constable
Manjunath have been suspended,
Bengalore Police Commissioner
Megharikh said.
With this, nine persons have been
arrested so far since the incident
happened on Sunday night when the 21-
year old student went through the ordeal
in a vigilante justice by an angry mob in
a case of “mistaken identity” after a
woman was mowed down by a car
driven by a Sudanese here. “Babu has
been suspended for dereliction of duty
and Manjunath for not taking action
even though he was present at the spot,”
it was reported.
The five accused were arrested last night,
Megharkh said and added that they have
been booked for assault, unlawful
assembly, arson, rioting and outraging a
woman’s modesty.
Mr Megharikh said police have been
interrogating the suspects and there are
chances of arresting some more people.
However, Mr Kijazi appealed to the
students to respect the local community,
their laws and leaders.
“Follow the laws, live in harmony with
the local people (and) respect the
leadership of the state,” he said.
Accompanied by a team of officials from
the Indian ministry of External Affairs,
Mr Kijazi met Karnataka Home minister
G Parameshwara and police officials in
Bengalore.
“We are impressed with the action
taken,’’ the High Commissioner said
after the meeting.
“We went into the facts of the situation
and are very impressed with the action
of the government.”
He also called for focus on the future of
harmonious coexistence with locals for
Tanzanians and students from other
African nations in Bengalore, as also
other cities of India.
Noting that some confidence-building
measures have been taken to prevent
recurrence of such incidents, he said
some of the officials have been
suspended and action has been initiated
against others.
On Thursday, MPs in Dodoma reacted
strongly to reports of harassment, urging
the government to send a strong protest
note to the Indian government.
The lawmakers also wanted the
government to ask for improvement of
security of Tanzanian students studying
in India.
Foreign Affairs Minister Augustine
Mahiga told the House that the
government, through its embassy in
India, has already written to the Indian
government “to show our concerns over
the incident.”
Later in the day in Dar es Salaam, the
Permanent Secretary in the Foreign
ministry, Mr Ramadhani Mwinyi, told
reporters that he had already summoned
the Indian High Commissioner to
Tanzania Sandeep Arya over the
incident.
Mr Mwinyi noted that in the meeting, he
told the High Commissioner to pass the
message to his government that it must
ensure similar incidents don’t reoccur
and that suspects must be arrested and
prosecuted; that the Tanzanian
government should be given constant
updates on the case and measures taken
to ensure that in future, such incidents
do not happen again.
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