The brutal attack on three African students at Rajiv Chowk Metro station hit headlines last week, reopening debates on racism experienced by Africans in the city. There is no official version yet of what the students – Yohan Koumba Daouda and Mapaga Yannis, both students of Amity Institute of Information Technology, and Guira, a first year BBA student of Sharda University – had done to incite the attack. One of the witnesses, who posted a video of the incident on YouTube, reportedly said that they were accused of ‘misbehaving with female passengers’ by making lewd comments at a woman on a train. Another report said that in the rush to board a train on the Yellow Line, one of the students was pushed aside. He apparently made a comment against Indians in protest, which then angered some passengers.

The students say they have not filed any complaint so far because there were no police personnel in the Delhi Police booth they had climbed up during the attack, and when the cops finally came, they were too injured to file a complaint. The two Amity students, Yohan and Mapaga, have now taken to the Humans of Amity page on Facebook to tell their side of the story.

Yohan writes on the page, “We were travelling in metro, and a few guys started clicking our pictures. On asking them about why they were doing that, they started misbehaving and that ultimately led the metro staff to take us and those guys to the police officer’s cabin. Even there, they kept passing racist comments which made us furious too. From there, the heat kept building upon and ultimately led to a fight. We were beaten up badly by a majority of people around us at that time.”

“They used iron rods, from the broken police booth, broken glass pieces, chairs, and what not to beat us up. There was so much blood. We bled severely but no one cared to see that. They kept their eyes shut with hypocrisy and bubble-pride and kept beating us up,” writes Yohan.

He adds, “They kept hitting. And every broken piece of glass that hit us, projected their sanity. And even though we were in pain, we let our blood rain on the floor. And even though we asked for mercy they kept giving us more of what was sane for them. They kept hitting. Fiber sticks, chairs and bottles were thrown at us, for what all created the fuss was neglected. And the only thing expected from the people around, was one more round of insanity, pain and blood.”

Mapaga says, “My parents are worried. They’ve made an opinion now that this place is not safe for me, every day my mother cries. My father has become so worried that he wants me to leave India. But, it is about my education. I want to get a degree. And I’ve promised my parents to never travel in Delhi Metro again. Life has become tough now, and every now and then they’re making us bow down to something we need not see. And the fee we pay for intolerance of stupidity, is our blood and bones, and when we come back home, we see nothing, but a new day ahead. A tomorrow. Full of sorrows.”

Uttam Poudyal, administrator of the Humans of Amity page, told us, “The three students have submitted a written statement to the embassy of Gabon (Yohan is from Gabon on the west coast of Central Africa) with the help of their ambassador, however, no action has been taken yet. My friends told me that during the incident, the police did nothing to stop the crowd, and a guy who was beating them said ‘Nigeria something’ in Hindi, to which Yohan retorted – ‘We are not from Nigeria,’ and again they were thrashed. The crowd was smiling, clicking photos and making videos. They don’t remember how it all stopped because they were drowned in a pool of blood. The cops admitted them in a government hospital where they had to wait for treatment. Yohan received 20 stitches and Mapaga Yannis will not be able to move his hand for four months as his vein is damaged. We are in talks with our college authorities to see if they can bear the expenses of their treatment.”