A 30-year-old man from Sikkim was subjected to racist taunts and assaulted by a group of people who called him “Chinese” on the outskirts of the city early on Wednesday.

In his complaint to the police, Dinesh Subba, who works as a waiter at a restaurant here, stated that three bike-borne men poked fun at him by repeatedly referring to him as “Chinese”.

The incident took place around 3am near Electronics City on the southern outskirts of Bangalore where several tech companies are located.

Subba, in his complaint, said he was walking home alone after a late-night visit to a bar with his friends when he was waylaid by the bike-borne men who kept calling him “Chinese” though he told them he was from Sikkim and hence an Indian.

When Subba lost his cool and shouted at them, the men left but returned after a while and attacked him from behind with some metal object. As the assailants sped away, Subba crashed unconscious on the roadside near a supermarket.

Watchmen of some nearby commercial establishments saw him lying and came to his help. Subba later called his brother-in-law Deepak and informed him about the incident.

Police arrived and scoured the area and scanned several security cameras but to no avail.

Police sources said Subba received seven stitches on his head and five on his broken nose.

The police have registered an FIR under IPC sections for wrongful restraint, assault, and intentional insult to provoke a break of peace.

The police said Subba’s mobile phone and wallet were intact although the assailants took away his bag.

There have been several such incidents in Bangalore in the past despite the city being one of the major hubs for migrant workers from the Northeast.

The death of Manipuri student Richard Loitam in April 2012 had sparked a huge uproar and a series of protests in the city against racial profiling and physical attacks on people from the Northeast.

A student of Acharya NRV College of Architecture on the outskirts of the city, 19-year-old Richard was found dead on April 18 in his hostel room, a day after he was allegedly assaulted by two of his seniors from Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

However, a forensic examination conducted after massive public pressure and continuing protests by the northeastern students concluded that Richard died of hereditary cardiac issues and was not murdered.

The city witnessed a massive exodus of people from the Northeast in August that year. The trigger for the exodus
was a social media message warning them of attacks if they continued to live in the city.

The state government had then stepped in to pacify and assure them of adequate security. While thousands returned to their home states in regular and specially arranged trains, many of them came back after a few weeks.