NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Sunday asked the police to file an FIR against law minister Somnath Bharti and others after the Ugandan women lodged a complaint with the metropolitan magistrate.
The court has passed order under section 156 (3) CrPC to file an FIR.
Earlier, embarrassed over the treatment of a group of Africans by Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti at Khirki Extension, the foreign office called in over 20 African envoys on Saturday evening to assure them that the Indian government would take action regarding Thursday’s incident. A single-point office of the police commissioner will now be established, specifically for complaints from foreigners.
Dinkar Khullar, secretary (west) in the ministry of external affairs (MEA), said the actions by the Delhi government were “utterly condemnable” and “cannot be condoned”. This is the Union government’s opinion, he said.
MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told journalists the government considered the action to be “an aberration, an isolated incident” and there was no targeting of nationals of any country in India.
The high commissioner of Nigeria, already smarting from treatment of Nigerians in a recent incident in Goa, spoke for the African missions when he said they wanted a more thorough report from the home ministry on Thursday’s incident as well as similar incidents against African nationals in other parts of India.
Their concerns rested on the fact that the number of students, tourists, workers, and professionals from African countries to India has jumped in the past few years.
In interviews to TV channels on Saturday evening, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal reiterated assurances about security of foreign nationals in Delhi. He also said he had tried calling the Nigerian high commissioner but could not reach him.
Khullar also told the envoys that extra patrols would be deployed by Delhi Police to protect life and property of Delhi residents, including foreigners.
On Thursday night, Bharti led a group of AAP activists and Malviya Nagar residents to Khirki Extension to carry out raids against Ugandan and Nigerian nationals, using objectionable language and allegedly forced them to undergo urine and blood tests.
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