Two instances of racial discrimination by the police against those hailing from north eastern states have been reported in Bengaluru over the past three days. In one incident, two people hailing from Manipur were beaten by the Koramangala police on April 20 when they were out to buy groceries. In another incident, as per a Bangalore Mirror report, a journalist and his cousin were taken into custody by the police and beaten up for being out to buy medicines.
Speaking to TNM about the first incident, Adam, who lives in Koramangala, said that he and two of his flatmates were walking to the grocery store when they were suddenly hit by the police.
“There were two policemen standing on the road and as we passed by, one of the policemen hit my friend on the back with his lathi. Then he hit me too, harder, on my back, without any provocation. I asked them why they hit me and that they did not have a right to do so, they just said we are not maintaining social distancing,” Adam told TNM.
Adam alleged that the three of them were wearing masks and were walking at a distance from each other, but the policemen accused them of roaming around and not maintaining social distancing.
“There were so many other people present around, but the police did not question anyone else or hit anyone else. They specifically targeted us, seeing that we were from the north-east. This is not fair. It is very upsetting because we did not do anything wrong. If we were roaming around just like that then yes you can question us, scold us. But we did not do anything wrong, we did not do anything, we didn't even look at them,” Adam told TNM.
Adam works as a football coach in Bengaluru and has been living in the city for the past ten years. He and his roommates hail from Churachandpur district in Manipur.
“During the lockdown, we have never stepped out without a cause. Every time we go out, we wear masks, we maintain social distancing. The three of us make the grocery trips because it's difficult for one person to carry rice and water cans all by himself,” he said.
In a separate incident, Bangalore Mirror reported that a 25-year-old journalist and his cousin who works at a hotel on Old Airport Road were allegedly picked up by the police in Hennur on Monday and beaten in custody till they were released on Tuesday morning.
25-year-old Samrat Pradhan, who hails from Darjeeling, and his 25-year-old cousin, Amit Kar, who is from Nagaland, told Bangalore Mirror that the two stepped out to buy medicines on a bike since Amit had an eye infection.
The two said that they were stopped by the police who demanded to see their pass. The cousins pointed out that many motorists around them were travelling without passes too and stopped a woman on a two-wheeler to ask if she had a pass. However, this is when the police started caning them. The two added that they were singled out from the crowd and some on-lookers even called them ‘coronavirus.’
Samrat then began to film the attack and the constable present there reportedly started to abuse them in Kannada and then started beating them for recording the incident. “He and some locals pushed me into an auto and took me to the Hennur police station. When I reached there, I saw that my cousin was already there and he had been beaten up brutally,” Samrat told the newspaper.
In custody, the two men were beaten and the policemen allegedly took turns to cane them till they deleted the videos. Samrat stated that he did not want to delete the video but he was “unable to bear the pain and their caning.”
“They kept abusing us in Kannada. Finally, they forced me to delete the video and even checked if there was a backup. After the video was deleted, they gave us some food. When we refused to eat, they threatened to beat us again. Then we were put inside the lockup. Later a senior police officer came and asked us about our background,” he said.
They were kept in custody for 15 hours before they were let off. Their bike has been impounded by the police who have said they can collect it after May 3.
However, Hennur police have denied the incident and have said that the two were arrested for roaming around without a pass and stopping a passer-by to demand if she had a pass as well.
This is not the first time residents from north-east India in Karnataka faced racial discrimination and were targeted over fears of coronavirus. Last month, two students who hail from Nagaland were blocked from entering a supermarket in Mysuru and were told they couldn't enter as they were 'foreigners'. Later, a case was filed against the manager and staff of the supermarket.