It was supposed to be vacation for an Indian family in Ireland. The vacation however turned into a nightmare when they faced racial slurs in an hour-long journey in a Dublin-bound train from Belfast. They were allegedly abused for their “accents, skin colour and nationality” by a man who was gulping beer, media reports said.
According to a report Irish Times, Prasun Bhattachrjee and his family went on a three-day trip to Ireland and were abused inside the train by a co-passenger. The report said that he and his parents had to endure a hate tirade allegedly for the accents, skin colour and culture. The accused was sitting beside them and was having beer from a can during the journey.
Bhattacharjee said that abuses on skin colour, nationality and other things were hurled at them by the man who was believed to be drunk. “@IrishRail @narendramodi @IrelandPM @DrSJaishankar @MEAIndia @ukhomeoffice I am an Indian traveling with BIVS with my parents. I was traveling from Belfast to Dublin ( 19:05-21:15) in coach D. A passenger abused us for more than an hour for our nationality. Feeling frustrated!, this was tweeted by the victim.
“We felt so bad,” Bhattachrjee was quoted.
Another co-passenger, who introduced himself as Peter, though said that the “train guard could have done more to avert such incident.
According to Peter, the guard had instructed the man to take a seat but didn’t intervene when the abuses were being hurled. At the end of the journey, Peter approached the Indian family and apologized to them on behalf of the accused.
Immigrant Council of Ireland’s communications and advocacy manager, Pippa Woolnough said this incident highlighted that proactive approach is needed to tackle racism. “How we respond to this kind of thing is crucial,” she was quoted in media.
