An Australian tourist recently revealed how an Indian mob threatened to skin him and rape his girlfriend after spotting a tattoo of a Hindu goddess on his shin. Matt Keith and Emily Kassianou, who were visiting from Melbourne, happened to be eating lunch at a restaurant in Bangalore when a group of religious radicals suddenly surrounded the couple.
Video clip recordings of the incident show that the couple was in fact harassed by a mob, which demanded that Keith’s leg be skinned because he had insulted not only India’s culture but also Hinduism. After several minutes, a policeman too took the liberty of berating the couple for Keith’s tattoo that depicts the Hindu goddess Yellamma.
When the situation started to get aggravated, the couple was taken to Ashok Nagar police station, where other police officials further reprimanded them in the witness of their perpetrators. After being held at the police station for over three hours, 21-year-old Keith agreed to write a letter of apology for having unintentionally offended Hindus and their religious beliefs.
Once the couple was released, Keith shared an image of his handwritten letter on Facebook, alongside which he posted a critical comment about the police’s poor handling of the situation. There, he also revealed that he has a massive tattoo of Lord Ganesha on his back.
“I should not have to apologize for what is on my skin and be put in a traumatizing situation where it is apparently acceptable to be harassed, threatened and mobbed. I do not deserve to be victimized and have to physically defend myself and my girlfriend every day. She does not deserve sexual abuse both physical and verbal. We support equality for all, tolerance of everyone and especially for the women in this country,” wrote Keith.
Thereafter, 20-year-old Emily Kassianou also took to Facebook to share her version of the brazen attack.
“What we originally thought would be a quiet bite to eat turned into a vicious assault by members of the BJP right wing political party. These men are held with high esteem ... with police bending backwards to please them. This meant that Matt and I were victims of being illegally detained. Yesterday, Matt and I found ourselves sitting in Ashok Nagar Police station accused of ‘intentionally spreading hatred’. We repeatedly asked to leave, but were detained, although we were told we had not violated any criminal law,” she wrote. “We had been welcomed by friends with such love and genuine interest about the couple of tattooed white kids that we are. However, whilst we have been welcomed by our peers there has been a wave of blatant racism and intolerance that has been a constant struggle. You hear horror stories about India, this is one. But, Matt and I will not be intimidated by self-styled guardians of morality.”
Senior police official Sandeep Patil admitted that his officers were in fact involved in harassing Keith and Kassianou.
“It was brought to our notice that a foreign national was harassed by some people and some local police people were also involved,” he confirmed.
Photo Credits: Today Online
