Young Australian couple harassed for sporting tattoo of Hindu goddess in Bengaluru, forced to apologise

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October 19, 2015

Bengaluru: In a disturbing incident, a group of people harassed an Australian couple at a restaurant in Bengaluru on Saturday.

October 19, 2015

Bengaluru: In a disturbing incident, a group of people harassed an Australian couple at a restaurant in Bengaluru on Saturday.

According to local media reports, they even threatened to skin the young man’s leg, for sporting a tattoo of Hindu goddess Yellamma (an Avatar of Durga) on his shin. The couple were detained by the city police, forced to apologies for ‘hurting religious sentiments’ of the people.

According to ‘The Hindu’, the incident happened around 2 pm when Matthew Gordon (21) and his girlfriend Emily Kassianou (20) from Melbourne were spotted by the group. “One of them came to me and confronted me about my tattoo. Soon, they surrounded us and threatened to skin my leg and remove the tattoo,” a shaken Gordon, a law student, told The Hindu on Sunday.

The group soon called in more people and over 25 men gathered outside the eatery, not allowing the couple to leave. “A policeman arrived and said this is India and one couldn’t sport such a tattoo on the leg,” Gordon recalled.

Gordon, the Australian who was confronted by a group of local people at a restaurant here on Saturday for sporting a goddess tattoo on his shin, his girlfriend, Emily Kassianou (20), both from Melbourne and their local friend Abishek were taken to the Ashok Nagar police station.

The Australian couple were allegedly given a “dressing-down” and a “lesson on Hindu values” by the police personnel in front of the protesting group.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Sandeep Patil, termed the matter “trivial.” “Both parties have reached a compromise and there is nothing serious about it,” he said reports “The Hindu”.


Courtesy: IBN