Racism and scams: the ordeal of African students in India, Congolese killed

Olivier Masonda left the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2012 to study in India, and he had recently become a French teacher in New Delhi. But the life that the 23-year-old was building for himself came to an abrupt end on May 20, when he was beaten to death by locals.

The fight occurred in Vasant Kunj, a neighbourhood in a southern suburb of New Delhi. According to the Indian police, who saw surveillance footage, Masonda was trying to hail an auto-rickshaw when he got into an argument with three Indian men.

According to reports in the Indian press, which cited the police, Masonda and the men wanted to rent the same rickshaw. Masonda was surrounded and violently beaten by the three men, one of whom delivered the fatal blow by hitting his head with a large rock.

But was this a racist attack? The Indian police says it is investigating this possibility. After arresting two of the men involved in the fight, they are searching for the third, as well as for the auto-rickshaw driver who witnessed the scene: “His version will help us find if any racist remark was passed by the accused,” a senior police officer told The Hindu newspaper.

When contacted by FRANCE 24, the president of the Association of African Students in India (AASI), Abdou Brahim, said that he didn’t have enough information about the incident to comment on it. However, he did say that there are “frequent” attacks on Africans and that the situation is distressing.

Last month, our journalist Gaelle Faure went to the city of Bangalore in southern India to investigate growing reports of violence against African students for our show 'Observers Direct'. There, she met numerous African students who said they had experienced both racism and violence.

FRANCE24