Migrant assault: Three months on, still no trace of the accused

Bengaluru: On March 3, John Kipgen, a Manipuri who moved to Bengaluru two years ago, was left fighting for his life after being brutally attacked by three men who tried to rob him. Despite receiving blows to the head with a granite block, he managed to note the make of the assailants’ bike ,a Scooty, and the last four digits of its licence plate-7777.

For John and his wife, both condemned to being treated like outsiders because they look different, the real battle is with the apathetic police. Though the police promised to take action, nothing was done.

Around 11.15 pm on March 3, John, a steward at a restaurant near Anil Kumble Circle was walking home after work. “I was walking toward MG Road from Manipal Centre when some men came behind me on a bike and tried to grab my phone.” He managed to wriggle out of their grasp and hid in a nearby building until they passed by.

A few moments later, he continued walking, when three men came up behind him on a Scooty. “They stopped the bike next to me and one of them grabbed my hands,” he recalled. With his hands pinned behind his head, John kicked furiously at the other two men who were hitting him. “They were talking to each other in Urdu about stealing my phone,” he said.

Passersby stopped to see the commotion, but nobody came to his help. Even four security guards at the nearby banks remained mute spectators.
“Maybe they didn’t help us because we look different,” said John’s wife Nengpi. After beating him, the assailants fled. Still, nobody came forward to help John, who was drenched in blood.

“I called my wife but I couldn't even speak, there was blood everywhere and my mouth was full of sand,” said John, who was in bed for three months recovering from his injuries. Nengpi found John on MG Road. On the way back, the couple met two cops on their night rounds. “We asked them to help us, but they refused. They told us to go the police station and wanted to know if John was drunk,” she said.

After getting him first aid at Bowring Hospital, the couple returned to Ulsoor police station the next day, for police refused to file an FIR at the time of the incident. “We went with members of the North Eastern Welfare Association and the police promised to help us,” said Nengpi.

“I was scared to talk about this, because if these men are caught and freed on bail, they may come after us. We are new to the city, we don't know our way around and we don't know too many people either.”

At the police station, they were subjected to another round of humiliating questioning. “They kept asking me if my husband was drunk,” said Nengpi. “They wanted to know if I had hired people to beat him up. Why are they asking us these questions? Why can't they help us instead?”