Mob strips Tanzanian girl, torches her car as police watch

A Tanzanian woman student was allegedly beaten up and stripped by a mob in a case of “mistaken identity” after a woman was mowed down by a car here.

The 21-year-old Tanzanian doing her BBM course was dragged out of the car in which she was seated along with her three friends after it was stopped by the mob shortly after they reached the accident spot on Sunday night, according to All African Students Union in Bengaluru.  She was stripped by a section of the mob and pushed out of a slow-moving bus that was passing by as she tried to board it to escape from them, the Union’s Legal Adviser Bosco Kaweesi told reporters here.

Three others were also beaten up.  He said she had no connection with the accident which happened much before and alleged that the police “was not so helpful” when they were approached.  Police Commissioner N S Megharikh said that after the accident, which claimed the life of a 35-year old woman, the driver of the car was assaulted and he was taken to hospital.  The Tanzanian woman and her friends had reached the spot later, he said, adding, the mob mistook them for having been responsible for the mishap.

“It was mistaken identity,” the city police chief said. The driver of the car which mowed down the woman is in police custody.

Megharikh said the woman’s statement had been recorded by the Deputy Commissioner of Police. “We have taken up the case for assault on the woman,” he said.

A section relating to molestation had also been invoked, he added.

He said a mob of 200 to 300 people were present after the accident but the police had brought the situation under control after the mishap. Megharikh said the police were trying to identify the people involved and they would be arrested.