Bengaluru bus conductor slapped us first, claim Nigerian students

Bengaluru: The six Nigerian girl students who were arrested on Sunday by the Wilson Garden police on charges of assaulting a BMTC bus conductor and were later released on bail on July 6, claimed that they were the actual victims and it was the conductor who slapped one of the girl students first. Their repeated pleas to the police only fell on deaf ears and a case was registered against them instead, the students alleged.

Addressing a group of reporters, the students said that the footage that was relayed on most of the local news channels showed one of the women, identified as Temitope Esther, catching the collar of the bus conductor and another woman comes to intervene shoving the conductor away from Esther.

Esther told Deccan Chronicle, “We had to alight the bus on Lalbagh Road to go to our church and as there was confusion over the passes (that were not signed by us), the rude conductor instructed the bus driver not to stop the bus and he continued driving. I went up to the driver and demanded that he stop the bus and by then the conductor had come towards me and slapped me,” adding that I accept that only after he slapped, I beat him in retaliation. “The conductor then hung on to the bus hand rails and kicked on my stomach repeatedly. Only after that my friends intervened and someone had video recorded that part of the incident,” Esther said.

“We were treated in an inhumane manner by the police who did not allow Esther to receive medical aid though she was crying in pain. We were not allowed to use mobile phones to inform our guardians, and not even to contact our embassy,” said Abisodun Damilola another student.

“How can a foreigner that too a woman, have the guts to assault an Indian, that too a government servant without provocation. We have come to Bengaluru for our higher education and we are educated well and we abide by the laws of the land here,” said Oluwasheti Dorcas, one among the group. 

The six students after securing bail on July 6 met  the Additional Commissioners of Police both Prathap Reddy and Harisekaran and briefed them about the incident. They have ordered to register a case against the conductor. They also promised action against the errant police officers, the students added.

“An FIR has been registered against the BMTC conductor Nagesh and we are almost done with the formalities for release of passports,” said a police officer.