German allegedly assaulted at Uttar Pradesh railway station, police claim he attacked accused first

The German national at Robertsganj Police Station. (Source: ANI)

A German was allegedly thrashed by a railway contractor at the Robertsganj Railway Station in Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadra, news agency PTI reported on Sunday. The police has arrested the accused, identified as Aman Yadav, and investigation in the case is underway.

This is the second such attack within a fortnight in the state, as recently a Swiss couple was also attacked in Agra district’s Fatehpur Sikri on October 22. Quentin Jeremy Clerc and girlfriend Marie Droz were assaulted by four youths with sticks and stones. Clerc suffered a skull fracture and Droz received treatment for multiple injuries.

Meanwhile, the accused claimed innocence and alleged that he was punched by the German. “I am innocent, the German national punched me when I said ‘welcome to India’ to him. He even spat on me,” ANI quoted him as saying.

According to Robertsganj Police, the accused enquired Berlin resident Holger Eric about his visit but he refused to reply as he smelled alcohol on Yadav’s breath. This led Yadav to allegedly attack Eric.

The Uttar Pradesh police, however, claimed the German has “anger management” issues and assaulted the accused first. “A person called from Himachal and complained the German had assaulted people in a similar manner in the past. He has a few problems, we don’t know if it is depression or anger management…he doesn’t speak a lot of English. All he said was that he came from Benaras.,” a police official said at a press conference.

In the Fatehpur Sikri attack case, all the accused have been arrested after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had sought a report from the Uttar Pradesh government.

Union Minister of State for Tourism K J Alphons had dashed off a letter to Yogi Adityanath, saying the incident could have a negative impact on the image of the country. The Swiss couple was also offered a free stay in a 5-star hotel in the national capital as a “token of concern” by Alphons.

Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Sulkhan Singh had issued a list of guidelines, including the deployment of policemen in plain clothes, more patrolling and installation of CCTV cameras, to prevent such incidents.