The Heads of African Mission stationed in India have strongly condemned the recent attacks on African nationals in Greater Noida, terming them as "racist" and "xenophobic." It has decided to take up the matter with the Human Rights Council (HRC) of the United Nations and the African Union Commission.
The African envoys said in a statement that India hasn't taken up visible deterring measures to prevent attacks on the African nationals staying in the country despite untoward incidents in the past.
Also read: Scared of racist attacks, African students stop attending classes at Noida International University
"As regards the recent unfortunate incident in Greater Noida, the African Heads of Mission strongly condemn the incident and express their deep concern and also take note that these reprehensible events, both outstanding and unresolved cases against Africans, were not sufficiently condemned by the Indian authorities," the statement said.
Describing the nature of the recent attacks as "racist" and "xenophobic," the African envoys said that they would do all they could to make sure that the victims are served justice by taking "further actions including the call for an independent investigation by the Human Rights Council as well as other human rights bodies, and also to comprehensively report the matter to the African Union Commission."
Nigerian students were attacked in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, last month after a schoolboy allegedly died of drug overdose. The family of the deceased filed a complaint against five Nigerians, claiming that they abducted and drugged the boy, which led to his death. The suspects were arrested by the police but released because of lack of evidence.
Then a video footage of dozens of men thrashing African shoppers in a mall went viral on social media, sparking off widespread outrage. It made headlines in Nigeria and India's ambassador Nagabushana Reddy was summoned for questioning in Abuja.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had tweeted that she had sought a report on the incident from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. However, the foreign ministry refused to call the incident as "racist" saying that investigation in the matter was still in progress.
The police filed an FIR against nine people and booked about 300 others for culpable homicide. Six people have been arrested so far and about 60 people seen in the video footage have been identified.
