Tanzanian girl assault: 5 arrested, Rahul seeks report from Karnataka

Five people have been arrested and more are being questioned after the shameful attack on a Tanzanian girl student on Sunday night in which an angry mob mistook her to be part of another group whose car had mowed down a citizen.

Deccan Chronicle had exclusively reported on Wednesday that the 21-year-old Tanzanian girl, who is a second year BBA student of Acharya College, had absolutely nothing to do with the car that ran over and killed a 35-year-old Hesaraghatta resident on Sunday night. Yet, while the local police stood by and watched, she was repeatedly beaten and then stripped of all her clothes and made to parade around naked.

Meanwhile, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi has sought an immediate report from the Karnataka government. "Rahul Gandhi asks Karnataka Govt to explain and send report immediately," party General Secretary Digvijay Singh said in a series of tweets.

"Strongly condemn incident with Tanzanian lady in Bangalore. Police must act strongly against the culprits," Singh, who is in-charge of party affairs in Karnataka, said.

According to the Bangalore police, the complaint by the Tanzanian girl was filed yesterday even though incident happened on Sunday.

However, the BJP held Congress answerable for the incident. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, “The kind of vandalism that happened with the girl is condemnable. It is Congress' government there. When there is even a small issue, or no issue at all, Rahul Gandhiji rakes it up and stages protests and starts giving sermons to the whole nation.”

"But now that such a big incident has happened… so much time has passed, the Congress is sitting quietly because it is their government in the state. There is no kind of investigation. This testifies their hypocrisy. It is a condemnable incident and it obviously makes the Congress answerable,” Naqvi added.

Travelling in another car -- a Wagon-R, along with four others -- the young woman had arrived on the accident scene some 30 minutes later on Sunday night. She was still dragged out of the car after it was surrounded and stopped by the mob, according to All African Students Union in Bengaluru.

She was stripped by a section of the mob and pushed out of a slow-moving bus that was passing by as she tried to board it to escape, the Union's Legal Adviser Bosco Kaweesi had said.

A furious Tanzania issued a “note verbale” to India about the reported attacks on African students in Bengaluru, requesting the Indian Government to "follow up on this matter and take necessary legal action against those involved in such attacks and to ensure the safety and security of all African students in India".

Tanzanian High Commissioner John Kijazi, in a telephonic conversation, said they want police to take strict action and arrest all culprits.

On Wednesday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had termed the incident shameful. Swaraj had spoken to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and requested him to ensure stringent punishment for the guilty.