Oct. 14: Twenty-one-year-old Indian student, Mr Pankaj Rawat, who suffered a fractured jaw in a racist attack in Edinburgh, said on Thursday that racist attacks on people of South Asian origin in the Scottish capital are common.
Mr Rawat, who was trying to help a girl, suffered from a fractured jaw in an attack early on Saturday morning and now has a titanium plate fixed to his jaw. “Racist attacks on Indians and Pakistanis have happened many times here,” Mr Rawat told this newspaper on telephone from Edinburgh.
“Most of them don’t want the police to be involved, so they never make a formal complaint about racist attacks,” added Mr Rawat, who finished a degree in hospitality and management this summer and is now on a two-year post-study work experience visa.
“I want my attackers to be caught and punished, they should not be allowed to roam free in the streets while I have to bear the pain of broken jaw all my life,” said Mr Rawat, who is yet to inform his parents in India about the gravity of the attack he faced. Complaining about the apathy of the Indian high commission, Mr Rawat said he was appalled that no one had got in touch with him either from London or Edinburgh, where India has a consulate.
“Indian embassy is not interested in helping Indians in the UK, it is just busy with issues of visas and other things. They have no time for us,” Mr Rawat complained, but he was full of praise for the Edinburgh police.
The racist attack has shaken him badly, he admitted, but said other Indian students also need a lot of reassurance. “It has been really hard for all of us,” Mr Rawat said. Rawat was attacked by a group of five young Scottish men early on Saturday night when he and his roommate were on their way back home after attending a party.