‘It was mentally stressful’, said a Sikh man living in Australia who alleged racial discrimination several times in recent months. Jarnail Singh, who runs a restaurant in Tasmania’s Hobart, said that he has been continuously targeted for over the last two months.
The miscreants smeared dog excrement on his car door handles and told him to “go home”, according to a report published by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Speaking to ABC News, Singh said, “Never, ever has this happened to me before, and it’s been continuous (over) the last two, three months. It’s mentally very stressful when it comes to your house, and particularly (being targeted) with your name on it… It’s too much mental stress. Something has to be done.”
The first incident happened outside his house, where dog excrement was left on the door handles of his car for four or five days in a row. Then, he discovered offensive graffiti that read “Go home, Indian” in his driveway.
He reported the incident to the police, but not much could be done to identify the perpetrator in the absence of video evidence, PTI reported.
After reporting the racist remarks in the letter to the police, Singh initially thought it was written by a young person and tried his best to ignore it.
However, about a month later, Singh received another letter, even more insulting than the previous one, with remarks like “you can **** off back to India” and threats to damage his car at his house or place of employment.
Tasmania Police Commander Jason Elmer, in an official statement, said the incidents had been reported to police and were being investigated. He said current legislation allowed for courts to “consider that a motivation of racial hatred or prejudice can be an aggravating factor in sentencing”.
“There was no excuse for any form of verbal or physical harassment in the community, and people were encouraged to contact police immediately if they believed they had been the victim of a prejudice-related incident,” said Elmer.
Singh has lived in Australia for around 15 years, with 10 of those being in Tasmania.
(With PTI inputs)
Milestone Alert!Livemint tops charts as the fastest growing news website in the world 🌏 Click here to know more.
Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
More
Less
Updated: 17 Nov 2023, 01:13 PM IST