Karnataka Home Minister Contradicts Tanzanian Student, Says She Wasn't Stripped

Five people have been arrested for the attack on the 21-year-old Tanzanian college student, described as "shameful" by Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj.

"This is a serious case. We will not take it casually. There are more than 12,000 foreign students here and it is our duty to protect them," said State Home Minister G Parmeshwar.

The attack took place when the woman and three other Tanzanian students were travelling in their Wagon R car near a spot where a Sudanese driver had run over a woman. "If the accident hadn't happened, this could have been avoided," Mr Parmeshwar said.

An angry crowd that had gathered after the accident turned on the Tanzanian students, who were dragged out of the car and beaten.

The crowd beat up the woman and tore at her clothes. She has alleged that she was stripped and paraded.

"We went into a bus but the driver did not want to move and the people in the bus started to beat us and pushed us outside...I fell on the steps of the bus. The Indians pulled me and continued to beat us," the woman has said in her statement to the police.

Police have come under fire for allegedly failing to stop the attack after the student said she pleaded with an officer for help, telling them that she was Tanzanian and knew nothing of the accident.

"He told us 'you all look alike and should get the black man who ran over a woman in the area'," the woman alleged in her complaint

Tanzania has written to India urging strict action. Tanzanian High Commissioner John Kizagi has said that the woman and her friends were attacked "simply because they were black". He said: "This should not happen in the 21st century. It's not a once in a while event, they come several times in a year."

The state's ruling Congress has been asked by party Vice President Rahul Gandhi to explain and "send report immediately" on the incident, his office tweeted.