Rahul Gandhi assures strict action in Tanzanian student assault case

NEW DELHI: Under attack by BJP for being "silent", Rahul Gandhi today said strict action will be taken in the alleged assault and stripping of a Tanzanian student in Bangalore that has triggered a nationwide outrage.

Gandhi said he told the Chief Minister that "strict action is to be taken and it will be taken".

"I condemn 100 per cent this type of action," the Congress Vice President told reporters, adding that he spoke to the party General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka to look into the matter and speak to the Chief Minister.

Nine persons have been arrested so far since the incident happened on Sunday night when the 21-year-old Tanzanian student went through the ordeal in vigilante justice by an angry mob in a case of "mistaken identity" after a woman was mowed down by a car driven by a Sudanese here.

The Tanzanian woman was reportedly dragged out of the car in which she was seated along with her three friends when she reached the accident spot with the miscreants mistaking them to have caused the fatal accident though a Sudanese was involved in it, police said.

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara has denied that the Tanzanian woman was stripped and paraded naked, claiming that it was not a racial attack.