Now, Punjab-origin man faces racial slur in New Zealand
WELLINGTON: An Indian national here has said that he was assaulted and subjected to a racist tirade during a road rage incident in Auckland city, a media report said.
The incident comes in the backdrop of series of attacks on Indians in the US.
Narindervir Singh of Nabha in Punjab said he was filming from inside his vehicle when a man wearing a grey T-shirt abused him last week, reported local news service Newshub on Monday. “I gave him a space ... that lady gave me the finger. The man was driving that car (pointing to a white Holden) and now he’s trying to threaten me, giving me bad names,” Singh said in the video, which was being streamed live on Facebook.
After Singh informed the driver that he’s uploading the video live, the situation escalated and Singh was abused, sworn at and told to go back to his own country, the report said.
The abuser, who is seen in video wearing a grey T-shirt, was tailgating according to Singh, who said he simply pulled over to let him pass. The man also made derogatory remarks about Punjabi people, Newshub report said. “It really shocked me and after he left, I was really shaken,” Singh told the news service. “I don’t know what to do, it really hurts my heart.” ROHTAK/SONEPAT: “Insaaf to mila, izzat aur naukri kahan se aayegi? (Wegotjustice,buthowwillweget back our prestige or jobs?),” asks Mohit.
He is one of the three Haryana youth discharged last week by a local court of charges of harassing two sisters on a bus about two yearsago.Avideoofthethreemen being thrashed on a bus by two girls, Aarti and Pooja, on being allegedly harassed went viral and the sisters were quickly hailed as ‘Sonepat brave hearts’.
Mohit and his two friends — Kuldeep and Deepak — were briefly arrested before being let out on bail. But, though the girls’ versionhasbeenthrownoutbythe court and the men were vindicated, life is still not the same for Mohit or his friends.
When the alleged incident happened,Mohitwaseyeingajobwith Delhi Police while Kuldeep and Deepak were in the line for jobs with the Indian Army, after having already cleared the medical and physical tests. But once they were implicated in the case, they were barred from taking the written examination and their pursuits for secured jobs stopped in the tracks. Their discharge came late. Having crossed the eligible age limit of 21, they cannot apply any more. “After clearing the two stages we were told we could not appear in the written test due to the case. Who will bring back the missed opportunity,” laments Kuldeep from Aasan village of Haryana’s Rohtak district.
Victims of what has turned out tobestaged-managedvigilantism, the men find their lives in disarray.ThesistersfromThanaKhurd village in nearby Sonepat are continuing with their studies at a college in Gurgaon.
Having set social media alight with the video of their thrashing the three youth, the girls went from hero to zero rather rapidly. Anothervideoshowingthesisters kickingamanbetweenhislegsata park surfaced a few days later. Somelocalsalsochippedin,claiming the two were “habitual bullies”, and the Haryana government put in abeyance its announcement to felicitate them.
The girls’ family dispute the counter-narrative, saying they werebeingtargetedfortheircaste. “Why would everyone suddenly starttargetingourdaughters?Isit because we are backward (Bairagi) and they (the three men) are Jats?”asksSantosh,theirmother.
Otherfamilymemberssaythey were contemplating challenging the verdict in a higher court. The families of Mohit and his friends, however,havenoplansofpressing defamation charges against the sisters.