"A police report said very clearly that the attackers wanted to ‘punish the black’"
For nine long months, as a Burundi father watched helplessly over his 24-year-old comatose son, Yannick Ntibateganya, reduced to that state by a vicious attack on him by nine young Punjabi men in April, he believed it was a hate crime. That his son was mauled almost to death because of his colour, his foreignness, his social mores. So it came as a surprise to the 60-year-old soft-spoken Nestor, that the attack is sought to be projected as the outcome of a drunken brawl — a commonly accepted feature of Punjabi society.
“A 100-page police report that was shown to me said very clearly that the attackers wanted to ‘punish the black.’ They stopped beating him with stones and bricks only when they thought he was dead,” said a bewildered Nestor, when told by The Hindu, that the Jalandhar police did not see it as racist attack. “If it was one or two attackers I could understand that it was a drunken brawl, but there were nine of them, all very determined to kill him. I can’t figure this out,” he says despondently.
But Nestor, who is at the mercy of an insensitive official machinery which reluctantly offered to pay for Yannick’s medical expenses following a media furore, has also learnt not to tread on powerful toes. Even as he grapples with the information, he is quick to say, “There are good people in India and the country is not racist. But I read in the report…”
Yannick, a first year student of computer science at Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Jalandhar, was attacked on April 21 last year by the nine men, following an altercation.
Negotiating his way through the maze of the caste and money-driven power strata of Punjab that is working the influence chain to go soft on the accused, though, is just one of Nestor’s worries. A few days ago, when Yannick opened his eyes, doctors told Nestor that the boy may never speak or be able to move his limbs, because his brain had been severely damaged in the attack.
“I am lost. I have no idea what to do next, even though it is the wish of my family and friends back in Burundi to shift him to a hospital there,” he told The Hindu at the Columbia Asia Hospital in Patiala, where his son lies virtually motionless in the ICU ward. “I sometimes feel as if he can see me with those vacant eyes. I have told the court, I want justice for my son.”
Yannick was among the 1500 foreign students at LPU in Jalandhar which, in the last decade of its existence, has been instrumental in bringing foreign students mainly from third world countries to the Punjab hinterland. Around 40 per cent of its foreign students are from Africa and it is common knowledge that the foreigners live and party in rented ghettoes in the town, often creating resentment among the local residents with their drinking and partying. “No Punjabi girl or boy is invited to their parties,” said an investigating official.
Of the nine accused, two are still absconding and have been declared proclaimed offenders by the trial court in Jalandhar. One of them, Jaskaran Singh, flew to Australia on a student visa, and the police are now trying to get him extradited with the help of the Ministry of External Affairs. Two out of the seven who were arrested, have been granted bail in the last few days. One of them is Romi Uppal, the son of a senior Punjab police officer, who was suspended last year, for threatening the witnesses. All have been booked for attempt to murder.
Nestor’s other worry is whether the Punjab government will honour its promise to pay the hospital dues amounting to Rs. 30 lakh. Following the media furore and intervention by the Burundi embassy, the State government announced that it would foot the bill for Yannick’s treatment and gave Rs. five lakh to the hospital. Nestor says that Burundi nationals in Delhi and elsewhere gave him some financial help, but without his regular job with a NGO in Burundi, which he was forced to leave, it is a tough haul. Students and staff of LPU also collected Rs. six lakh and gave it to the government for Yannick’s treatment.
Keywords: Jalandhar, Lovely Professional University, Burundi national, Attack, Racial issue, Official apathy
I agree with Mr. Ram Narayanan. Lot of us are inherently racist and casteist. Had come across several occasions, wherein rude comments are passed on castes which are deemed to be inferior. We should set our house in order before commenting on the racist attitudes of Westerners and others.
Our media fusss a lot & make a lot of publiciity even for a small non-racial crime on Indians in Australia but same media ignore such racial attacks on foreigners or even on its own Bihari in Mumbai, Assame or Tamils in Karnataka. The double faced attitude is a shame on our nation.
Although Indians are inherently racist, they cry racism at avery opportunity in the West. Indians are not only racist, but also caste-conscious. They think they are God's chosen few.
When Indian Nationals were being targeted in Australia, it was said
that the fault was with the Indians as they don't mingle well with the
locals & what happened in Australia was Indians own fault. Now what
happened to this gentleman was totally wrong & shouldn't have
happened, but again the fault is with the Indians. Why do we have a
self-loathing mentality? No government in the whole world give any
compensation to anybody, but here we expect that everything should be
paid by our government. On humanitarian grounds yes, we can help his
family but why do we always expect the compensation from govt. Infact
the hospital bill should be paid by the families of the 9 boys, who
committed this crime.
Media should not jump to the conclusion of calling an attack as Hate
Crime or Racism.
During my school days, I saw a lot of students from African countries study in a college near by (in Trichy, TN). They were very friendly, very appreciative of the opportunity to be able to study in India.
It is really sad to see this happen to a young man.
Equally shameful is the attitude of the Govt. in not tracking down the culprits yet. Compare this with all the noise made when Indian students were attacked in Australia.
We are looking for justice in those cases. What about this one?
Punjabi youngsters are addicted to drugs, alcohol and arrogance. And this arrogance which is not much talked about but is more prevalent than drugs and alcohol.Punjabis use one word "annakhi". kids of powerful, rich people are annakhi and they are brought up like that. Education has become secondary in Punjab. Hate toward other communities is common part, be it a Indian or foreign national. At one time, even Bus conductors were not allowing the Biharis to board inside the bus but were asking them to sit on the roof of bus, even in winter.
It is really horrible to see the tragedy that unveiled to the Burundi national. Adding to the grievence ,the perpettrators initiated the attack blaming the victim to be black.Ghosh! 1 can't believe such things happen in India.
When we check the different dimensions of the case, the reference of the culture of the victim's community in the country,may have prompted the perpetrators to do the heinous crime.Whatever ,it was really a blot on the indian social fabric and such trends are to be put down with an iron hand.
This is at once as sad as it is shameful. I really wish the young man recovers fully and goes on to lead a normal life. And that his offenders, whoever they maybe, are brought to book.
And we complain of racism if we go to Europe!! Shame on us. We boast
ourselves that India is a tolerant nation, we accept all faiths, race,
etc. etc. We can't accept our own North East people. And now this
incident. Time to introspect. Thanks to The Hindu for bring this to
light.
We, Indians, who have borne the brunt of racism, should never tolerate
such acts in our own society. Hate crimes, which germinate as a result
of intolerance towards social and cultural diversity have to be rooted
out right from the nascent stage itself. We are unconsciously planting
the seeds of racial discrimination when we appreciate our children as ‘
Fair…and hence beautiful’ and encourage them to apply the so-called
fairness creams to enhance beauty. The conclusion, they generally draw
is that what is fair is definitely beautiful, and what is not fair is
ugly and ought to be despised. Discrimination based on one’s colour,
creed, caste, sex, religion or language should never be allowed to form
a part of our civilisation or else we would be fighting many a Ku Klux
Klan
It is a disgrace to the whole of India for the brutal attack of
Yannick Ntibateganya, a foreign student. When there was attack on
students hailing from Punjab in Australia, there was a big hue and cry
to condemn and even demanded for diplomatic intervention to contain
such crimes against Indian students in Australia. It is really
atrocious that Punjabi students and other youngsters have attacked a
foreign student close to death and there is movement to denounce the
same and advocate for the needed help to the victim. The Lovely
Professional University (LPU) in Jalandhar had not taken any
initiative to ensure a cosmopolitan atmosphere in the campus and have
not guided foreign students to safely manage themselves in their daily
interface with the prejudiced society out- side the campus. Punjab
government must give a serious note of this plight and though belated,
it should appoint a special directorate to protect foreign students
and tourists in Punjab. Further the Punjab government and LPU together must conduct
Orientation programmes to foreign students. Awareness camps can be
given to local students and other groups in civil society for the
acceptance of foreign students and tourists. All culprits involved in
the attack of the foreign student, the Barundi national have to be
arrested; even if one of them is the son of a senior Police Officer or
another is to be extradited from Australia. Let Punjab proves justice.
India should prompt local communities to get rationally motivated for
accepting people of distant race or religion for upgrading their
economic status. Our government must be stubborn to curb any
nationalist movements that may crop up in disguise which instigate
people to nurse feelings of repugnance targeting people of a
particular creed or culture, whether in majority or minority societies
or against foreign students and tourists.
Very unfortunate. Have we already forgotten how we feel when Indian
students are attacked in Australia and Europe? The criminals involved in
this racist attack should be severely punished.
Are we Indians losing humanity ..., the New Delhi case violent crime against a
hardworking young woman, and now this racism against a foreign student ..., that
too by apparently educated young men from Punjab. Looks like we need to introduce
some civic classes in school ..., this is totally unacceptable. I feel so sorry looking at
the father of the victim.
My heartfelt sympathies to Mr Nestor and prayers for Yannick's full and speedy recovery. It is a very reprehensible act and an extremely disturbing hate crime. Even worse is the attempt by the local officials to sweep this under the carpet. Coming close on the heels of two heart-rending gang-rapes that shook the nation by the sheer degree of horrendous brutality, gang violence appears to be on the rise in India. To see such acts committed by both educated and illiterates alike is even scarier. Indian society's moral compass is certainly pointing in the wrong direction. If individuals, communities, public and private institutions, local and central governments with law enforcement agencies do not recognize and act to arrest this trend, India would soon become a nation of crime and criminals condemned to suffer in misery and shame.
This story broke my heart. This is internalized anti-black racism at its worst. It is no surprise that we live in a racist society, but the sheer naked violence and rage evident in this incident is difficult to understand. The familiar explanation of "drunken brawl" is simply unsustainable. After all, how many incidents do we come across in which someone has been beaten senselessly by inebriated people?
Mr. Nestor, I really apologize for what has happened to your son. Yannick will always be in my thoughts and prayers. The great African American thinker W.E.B. DuBois dreamt of an anticolonial alliance between Asians and Africans that would lead the world out of imperialism. Mahatma Gandhi cut his political teeth in South Africa. Unfortunately, we have internalized so much white supremacy that we have forgotten who our real friends are. As DuBois again rightly pointed out, the shadow of color line within the color line will always come back to haunt us.
India gave world a leader who showed south africa the way to fight
apartheid . Its shameful what happened. Clearly we are forgetting about
our national values.
Please Email the Editor