A Nigerian woman was tied up by police after she allegedly attacked people at National Market in Bengaluru, The Hindu reported. The report said she had been drinking, and was taken to KC General Hospital, where she was pinned down and sedated. The African Students’ Association said officials used excessive force on her.
Television clips showed the police chasing her down and throwing a large red cloth over her before several men tackled her to the ground. Her arms were put behind her and bound up, and she was then bundled into two more pieces of cloth before they could take her into the ward.
In a separate incident, a 24-year-old Congolese woman said she was sexually abused by a shopkeeper in Bengaluru. She also told The Hindu that local police tried to convince her to withdraw the complaint she had made. However, deputy commissioner of police (south east), S Boralingaiah denied her allegation and said that the shopkeeper had been detained after she filed her FIR.
Both incidents come weeks after a Congolese man was killed in Delhi, and African diplomatic leaders threatened to boycott the government’s Africa Day celebrations in May, over the continued attacks on Africans in Indian cities. In February this year, a Tanzanian woman was beaten in Bengaluru after locals believed she was involved in a hit-and-run that left a woman dead. The state government had denied it being a racist attack.
In May, a Nigerian student was attacked in Hyderabad. Chairman of the African Students Association in Telangana Emmanuel Omurunga had said the police were not willing to help in the case, and called India unsafe for Africans.
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