African envoys hit out at India over attacks on Nigerian students; MEA calls diplomat's 'racial' remark unfortunate

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New Delhi: The Indian government on Monday termed as unfortunate the description of criminal act triggered after the death of a young Indian student as 'xenophobic and racial by the African envoys.

Reacting to strong remarks by African envoys who had criticized India for not taking 'known, sufficient and visible' deterrent action, the External Affairs Ministry said that investigations into the death of Indian teenager and the subsequent incident by local authorities are ongoing.

"It is unfortunate that criminal act triggered following the untimely death of Indian student under suspicious circumstances has been termed xenophobic and racial," the Ministry of External Affairs said on the statement of Dean of African Head of Mission.

"The government is committed to ensuring the security of all foreign nationals in India including the African nationals. The government condemned and described as unacceptable the incident of attack on Nigerian nationals in Greater Noida," it added.

Earlier today, a group of African envoys condemned the recent attacks on their students in Greater Noida and accused the Indian government of taking no action against the violence.

"India took no action to prevent violence against Africans. It didn't properly condemn the Greater Noida attack," the African envoys said in a statement. 

"No known, sufficient and visible deterring measures were taken," it added.

Calling the attacks "xenophobic and racial", the envoys said that they expect strong condemnation and action from India. 

"These reprehensible events, both outstanding and unresolved cases against Africans, were not sufficiently condemned by the Indian authorities," the officials said.

On March 27, at least two incidents of attacks on Nigerian students were reported from Greater Noida following the death of a Class 12 student, who allegedly died of a drug overdose.

In an another attack the same evening, that was caught on camera, a Nigerian student was brutally beaten by a large mob inside Greater Noida's Ansal Plaza mall.

The local people, who allegedly thrashed the African students with sticks, accused them of peddling in drugs. 

The Greater Noida Police arrested five people in connection with the case.