MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said that the incident should be seen as an isolated one related to a situation getting out of hand because of the road accident.
At a press conference held on Thursday, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tried to downplay the assault on Tanzanian woman in Bengaluru that came to light on Wednesday.
Swarup stressed that the incident should be seen as an isolated incident which "got out of hand because of a road accident". However, he assured that those accused in the case will be given stringent punishment.
"We condemn this incident unequivocally. We will extend full co-operation to investigation of this case and stringent punishment will be given to the perpetrators. We have assured our African friends that necessary legal action will be taken. We will take all steps to ensure the safety of African students in India. We will take all steps to ensure the safety and security of African students in India," said Vikas Swarup.
He added that a team is going to Bengaluru on Friday including the High Commissioner of Tanzania, Joint Secretary (States), Director (East & Southern Africa in MEA) and Regional Dir of ICCR.
"This should be seen as an isolated incident related to situation getting out of hand because of the road accident," Swarup said.
On Wednesday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had tweeted saying that the govt is deeply pained over this shameful incident.
"We are deeply pained over the shameful incident with a Tanzanian girl in Bengaluru. I spoke to the Chief Minister of Karnataka. He informed me that a criminal case has been registered and four accused have been arrested," Swaraj tweeted.
On Thursday, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that he has asked the police to conduct an inquiry on why complaint was not taken immediately.
"I have asked them to take action against officials if there is any fault on their part," he said.
At a press conference, Karnataka Home Minister G Parmeswara rubbished all reports of this incident being a racist attack. "This is definitely not a racial attack" and maintained that the incident was a response to an accident that had happened earlier, in which a Sudanese driving a car in an alleged drunken state had mowed down a woman and injured her husband seriously.
He also said that the victim wasn't stripped and paraded naked. However, a certain comment from the minister created a furore amongst the Twitterati. He said that, "Had the Sudanese man not killed someone in the accident, maybe this incident wouldn't have happened."
Read how people reacted to this comment here: Twitter mocks Karnataka Home Minister for his insensitive comment
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