Bengaluru Was Home, Now I Live in Fear: Assaulted Tanzanian Woman

“I don’t know why people think we are all bad, we all do drugs. That’s not true,” says the Tanzanian woman.

Students from different colleges hold placards and candles during a protest against the attack on a Tanzanian Girl by a mob in Bengaluru on Thursday. (Photo: PTI)

On Sunday night, Jessie (name changed) stepped out for a casual dinner with three of her Tanzanian friends. The 25-year-old, from Dar-es-Salam in Tanzania, has been living in Bengaluru for four years, and knew her way around the city. So they took out a red Wagaon-R and headed out. The events of that night just two hours later, however, changed her life forever. Her love for the city, which she considered her home, came crashing down.

The Nightmare

Remains of the car that was burnt by the mob. (Photo Courtesy: Deccan Chronicle, altered by The Quint)

In her first detailed interview, Jessie, who was assaulted by an angry mob In Bengaluru recently, describes to The News Minute the horror she underwent that night.

“When I made plans to have dinner with my three other friends from Tanzania, I did not have an inkling of what trauma lay in store for me. I am 25- years old and from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and have been living in Bangalore for over four years now.

Since it was a Sunday, there were few restaurants open near my house in the Saptagiri locality. So we decided to head out in a friend’s red Wagon-R. It was around 7.30 PM and we were heading towards the direction of the Acharya Engineering Institute. My friend who was driving the car saw a crowd beating up an African man on the road. He slowed down to enquire about what was happening. And that is when our nightmare began.

Our mistake was that we stopped to enquire instead of driving away. When we tried to enquire what had happened, the mob’s anger turned on us. As soon as we slowed down, some of them started shouting. I don’t understand any Indian language, but I know most were speaking in Kannada. My friends, all men, in the car realised that we were in trouble and tried to get away from the scene. At first a few men tried chasing us and shouted at us to stop the car. Then many more joined the first gang. They were in bikes, autos and even cars.

I have never been so scared in my life. It all happened very fast. They blocked our car near Saptagiri hospital. My friend swerved the car and took the opposite road, but they blocked that too. When we realised that we were cornered and had no way to escape, we stepped out of the car. But two of my friends managed to flee. My friend Hasheem and I were not so lucky. There were so many men, I don’t even know how many. They caught hold of Hasheem and started thrashing him.

I was too frightened to even move. Where would I have gone? I just stood near the car, screaming at the men, asking them to stop and spare us. And by then I saw some men from the mob piling grass near the car. Someone else in the crowd threw lit matches, setting the Wagon R on fire. And that is when I realised I could not spot Hasheem anywhere.

The car was on fire. I spotted a policeman nearby and ran to him asking why he was letting this happen. But he refused to do anything. All he did was throw a few handfuls of sand on the car and then started talking on his mobile phone. He left me there and went away.

Someone in the crowd who knew us called another friend of ours Brie. He was with an Indian friend in the neighbourhood and had been informed that our car had been in an accident. He came there and saw me near the car that was burning. By then the crowd confronting us had begun to swell in numbers and we could feel the anger mounting. They started beating Brie too. They were so angry. I did not want to leave him and I kept pulling at him to free him from being beaten. The mob meanwhile began pulling at me; they were pulling my clothes. We kept falling down.

By now we were terrified. Brie and I tried to run into a bus that had stopped nearby. We entered the bus and went right in front, where the seats are reserved for women. We told the driver to start the bus. Some people from the mob entered through the back door and started beating up Brie. There were several other passengers in the bus, but no one spoke for us. No one protested, not one. They pushed us out of the bus and I fell on the stairs.

That is when I first noticed that my T-shirt was torn. I looked down and realized that my black T-shirt had been ripped off. One of my bra-straps had been torn and was left hanging exposing my breast. I panicked and tried to cover myself with my hands. The crowd that pushed me off the bus kept shoving me. Brie and I tried to take shelter in a shop nearby. The mob surrounded us there too.”

Why People Look At Us With Disdain?

Students from different colleges hold placards during a protest against the attack on a Tanzanian Girl by a mob in Bengaluru on Thursday. (Photo: PTI)

“An Indian man who emerged from the crowd took off his shirt and gave it to me. The crowd was still shouting. I think that the Indian was shooed away. But as soon as he gave me the shirt, some more people came up, telling us to leave. I remember there was another gentleman, an Iranian I think, who spoke in a calm voice to me. He told us to come with him and we were able to walk away from there with him.

By the time I reached a friend’s place, it was almost 9 pm. I managed to speak with my parents from there. They are poor daily wage labourers and they were in shock about what happened to me. It was only later when I got home that I realised how badly injured I was. I had bruises all over my body.

Bengaluru was my home. I lived peacefully and loved India. I had a nice landlord, good neighbours. But that experience changed everything for me. I am defeated. I would have fled from India that very night if I could.

It has been over four days since that dreadful night. Now I am much calmer. I will stay here till my course finishes in June. I am determined to complete it and go back.

Many ask me why I delayed filing a complaint. That night we were too scared to do anything. On Monday, when we tried to file a complaint, a policeman told us to take rest and not run around to file a complaint. We tried again on Tuesday and then they said they did not have time to take down the complaint as the mob was still on the roads. It was after the news was reported on Wednesday that my complaint was finally recorded.

I do not know why many Indians living in my neighbourhood look at African students with disdain. They think we are all bad, we all do drugs. That’s not true. There are some bad ones amongst us, but how can everyone be punished for that?

The biggest fear I had that night while I was heading home and even later when I was in my room was what if they followed me to my house?”

Editor’s note: When Jessie and her friends reached the area, the mob was fuming because a 35-year-old woman resident of Hesarghatta, had been killed by a speeding car driven by a man from Sudan. Hasheem, Jessie’s friend was taken to a hospital by someone, after the car was set on fire.

(Dhanya Rajendran is the Managing Editor and Co-Founder of The News Minute.)

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