In an unfortunate incident in Tasmania, Australia a couple beat up an Indian cab driver unconscious and yelled racial slurs.
Pradeep Singh is a 25 year old cab driver who was beaten by two of his passengers at the Sandy Bay Mcdonald’s drive through on Saturday night. The driver explained he was attacked after he asked the woman passenger to step out of the car as she was about to throw up.
“Please get out of the car. If you mess up the car you have to pay a cleaning fee,” Singh told the woman.
Singh explained after that both the passengers began to abuse him and the woman used expletive words in a long rant. She included that she wouldn’t pay the fare nor even the cleaning fee.
Singh said, “They punched me to many times and kicked me.” The couple also added a racial comment saying, “You f…..g Indians deserve this.”
Pradeep Singh sustained severe injuries and was admitted to the Royal Hobart Hospital overnight.
Ian Whish-Wilson, a police official reported that the couple has been charged in relation to the assault against Singh.
The police official also added, “There was a dispute over payment and it is alleged the passengers assaulted the driver and damaged the vehicle.”
He also reported, “It was alleged a racial comment was made during the assault but it does not appear that the incident was racially motivated.”
The couple, 25 year old Kingston man and 21 year old Sandy Bay woman have both been charged with assault and destruction of property. The couple will have to appear in Hobart Magistrates Court on June 26th.
Pradeep Singh is studying hospitality in Tasmania and driving the cab was his way of earning. But after this awful incident, he has decided to stop driving a cab, as he says, “It’s so dangerous.”
This incident is one of many racial attacks against Indians in Australia. Earlier this month, a video went viral of a woman yelling at an Indian man for asking if his pregnant wife could take the seat on the same bench. The woman yelled things like “I hate India” with a number of abuses.
In March, Tomy Mathew, a Kerela Catholic priest was stabbed in the neck in Melbourne. The attacker was reportedly yelling, “You are Indian, a Hindu or Muslim, you cannot say mass… I will kill you!”
