Racist attack on Indian man in Scotland

PTI

London, 14 October 2010: An Indian shop assistant suffered a broken jaw after being beaten by a gang of racist thugs who abused him when he tried to stop them from attacking a woman in Edinburgh in Scotland. Pankaj Rawat, 21, was walking home after a night out when he intervened to protect the woman on Waverley Bridge.

 

But he was hit with a volley of racial abuse before being punched to the ground by one of the men in the group of five before another repeatedly kicked him. He said he was called an Indian b****** by the thugs. Rawat, who moved from India to Edinburgh 18 months ago, was rushed to hospital, where he had a metal plate fitted to his fractured jaw.

 

Now he has lost his job with a city clothes shop after his bosses were unable to give him four weeks off work to recover from his injuries. Police are appealing for help in tracing the five men involved in the incident, who fled down Princes Street.

 

Rawat told Edinburgh Evening News, "I’d been out for a friend’s party at Mood and was walking back to my home in Tollcross with another friend. As we were crossing Waverley Bridge, I saw two Scottish men shouting at a woman. One of them was pushing her and trying to kiss her, and she was shouting for help."

 

 

"I told them to leave her alone or I would call the police. The men who was pushing the woman came over to me and asked where I was from. I told him I was from India and he started shouting "b****** Indian b****** at me." "I told him I didn’t want any problems, but he couldn’t do that to a woman. He kept making racial comments then he punched me on the side of the cheek. He punched me a second time and I fell to the ground."

 

"The other man with him came over and both of them started kicking me on the face as I was on the ground. Three other men also stood around me so my friend couldn’t see what was happening." After the assault, an ambulance took Rawat to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for treatment.

 

He was later transferred to St John’s Hospital in Livingstone to undergo an operation to insert a metal plate into his jaw. Rawat said, "I was released from the hospital on Monday and I’m still in a lot of pain. I have painkillers to take and I need to stay on a liquid diet. I lost my job, though because they weren’t able to give me the month off.

 

"It was totally a racist attack because they kept asking where I was from and shouting racist abuse. I came to Scotland last year and I’ve had people calling me a ’Paki’, but this is the first time I’ve been assaulted." The first suspect is white, 18 to 20 years, between 5ft 6in and 5ft 7in tall with a thin build and brown hair. The second suspect is white, 18 to 20 years old.