Refugees Beaten Up in Delhi For Language Difficulties

26 April 2010: A Chin refugee father, Fung Ling, and his two friends who offered to assist in speaking Hindi were battered and struck with bricks by two local Indian bikers in Chanakya Place, Uttam Nagar of New Delhi, India around 6pm last Friday, 23 April 2010.

Fun Ling with his head seriously injured and bleeding

While walking on their way back from visiting a sick relative, Fung Ling, 37, and his wife were stopped and talked to by the two local men on their bike. Knowing Mr. Fung Ling has got difficulties in speaking and understanding Hindi, Than Sang who came voluntarily to give assistance in communication was slapped on his face by the Indian man sitting in tandem.

"The two men talked to Fung Ling and he simply replied he didn't understand Hindi. When his Chin friend Than Sang asked if he could help at all, the man sitting behind slapped on his face. Then, both of them got off the bike and started attacking them. But Fung Ling and Than Sang did not fight back," said a document by Delhi-based Chin Refugee Committee (CRC).

Fung Ling, a father of five under 12 years old, was said to have been hit on the back of his head with bricks and collapsed unconsciously while his friend Mr. Than Sang was severely beaten up and left bleeding. Another Chin refugee, Van Lal Lian, who emerged from the crowd that offered no help to the victims, was also attacked when he was seen making a phone call.

One of the two Indian men, thought to be about six foot tall, grabbed Lian's mobile phone and smashed it to pieces.

CRC's report said: "When the victims knew that the two men were not going to stop fighting them, they fled to the nearby refugee house and locked the door. Still, the attackers came after them up to the door and shouted at them. When they were unable to open the door, they finally went away from the place."

Seriously injured and bleeding, the three Chin victims were after about an hour taken to the DDU Hospital where they received treatment.

Burma Centre Prague last month sent an open letter to New Delhi-based UNHCR following a series of recent incidents facing the Chin refugees in India, calling for providing a safety and legal protection of Burmese refugees living in India and immediate support for the victims.

The Chin refugee victims and their families were said to have arrived in India in 1998 after fleeing military-controlled Burma in search of safety and refuge.

No legal action has yet been taken against the offenders.

Source :http://chinlandguardian.com/news-2009/952-refugees-beaten-up-in-delhi-for-language-difficulties.html