An Indian couple was harassed by a group of youngsters at the parking lot of Landsowne Place Mall, the video of which surfaced on social media, triggering a major debate on the increasing racial attacks that Indians are facing in foreign countries. The Indian man shared his ordeal on Facebook as he wrote that he and his partner were still traumatized. The three young men were in a large white pickup truck in front of their vehicle. One of the young men came out and humped on the couple’s side mirror. They called the Indian man ‘black’, and said, “Shut up, big nose”. One of the harassers said it’s not illegal to hump a vehicle and then asked whether they touched the victim. As the video of the incident that the victim took was posted, many people identified the harassers and a police investigation began. Peterborough Police said as a result of the investigation and following consultation with the Crown Attorney’s office, an 18-year-old male from the City of Kawartha Lakes has been charged with: Utter threats – Cause Death or Bodily Harm. The accused was released on an undertaking and will appear in court September 16.(Video contains foul language)The police said there is no specific charge for hate crime in Canada that applies to the incident. However, “there is a hate crime element to this case and that will be addressed as the case moves through the court process,” they said. “Anybody who has seen the video in this case will understand that that type of behaviour is not acceptable in our community, nor any community,” Peterborough police chief Stuart Betts said. “I would like to thank everyone who came forward with information in connection with this incident.”“Clearly this is not the standard of acceptable behaviour in our city. We encourage residents to continue to report hate bias incidents/crimes that take place in our community. Reporting these incidents to police is crucial to ensuring we have the information needed to investigate and pursue charges when appropriate. We are committed to keeping our community safe for everyone who lives, works, or visits here.”Peterborough Sports Club takes action, suspends twoThe LUG Sports Group issued a statement identifying two of the harassers as their players, as they had sports club hats when they were caught harassing the Indian couple. “It is completely unacceptable and goes against evrything we stand for as an organization,” the group issued a statement.
