African students in Delhi-NCR live in fear of another attack

“Arrest of people who incited these attacks on Africans will not solve the problem. These are only temporary measures. Another attack can happen anytime in a matter of days or weeks,” says Samuel Jack, a Nigerian student of Delhi University.

Jack says he has lived in India for five years and is pursuing his political science course in DU. “I have been abused many times for no reason at all by strangers. There are some preconceived notions against Africans. That must change,” he adds. He suggests that unless the Government and civil society play a pro-active role in sensitising people about Africa and Africans, such misconceptions would remain.

In the first major law and order problem in Uttar Pradesh after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took over, about a dozen Nigerians were beaten by a mob in Greater Noida on Friday. Six were admitted to hospital due to serious injuries.

The reason for the attacks varied from allegations of cannibalism to locals suspecting some Nigerians of peddling drugs that led to the death of a Class 12 student supposedly due to a drug overdose.

The Nigerian students still don’t know why they were assaulted, pointed out Samuel Jack. The mob used rods, bricks and knives on the unsuspecting Nigerians, he added. Local residents did not help or call the police. Even the college did not extend any help, he complained.

News agencies reported that the police had arrested five persons involved in the attacks with FIRs registered.

Sensing that this incident would flare up into an international incident, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj quickly tried to douse the fire by tweeting that she had spoken with the CM: “I have spoken to Yogi Adityanath ji Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh about attack on African students in Greater Noida. He has assured that there will be a fair and impartial investigation into this unfortunate incident,” tweeted Swaraj.

“We demand high security to all the African students. We also want the Government of India to compensate medical bills of those injured as well as for the damages to the properties,” says Samuel, adding that at least three cars were damaged/ burnt by the mob in Noida.

“There were reports of an attack on Tuesday also against African nationals. We are yet to verify it,” says Jack, who is also the general secretary of the Association of African Students (AASI) in India—an umbrella organisation attempting to unite all African students in India.

Meanwhile, in a Facebook post, AASI requested all African students residing in Greater Noida to remain indoors and abstain from attending classes “until proper security is provided.” Much needs to be done to remove the fears of these guests in India, and more importantly, the preconceived notions of the locals.