IT city Bangalore was once again shamed after a group of locals assaulted a youth from northeast for allegedly not speaking in Kannada.
The incident happened yesterday evening when 26-year-old Manipuri youth Michael went to a restaurant with friends for dinner.
The group was speaking in English while they waited for the food to be served. A group of Kannadiga youngsters, who were sitting at the adjacent table, objected to the Manipuri youth speaking in English.
“Your are eating Kannada food and living in Karnataka, why don’t you speak in Kannada? They asked me”, said Michael.
An argument followed. The locals then cornered Michael and assaulted him, leaving him injured.
“It was purely racist,” said Michael.
The police later arrested the local youth and booked them for intimidation and assault. Talking to a news agency, Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Alok Kumarsaid: “Three people have been arrested. We will take stringent action against them.”
This is not the first hate crime against ‘outsiders’, especially people from the northeast.
Bangalore is home to around 240,000 people from the northeast. In 2012, a rumour that they will be attacked had led to a mass exodus before things were brought under control by the state government.
