An Indian data scientist has warned of a “huge increase” in racist attacks after he was assaulted by a gang of youths in west Dublin.
Dr Santosh Yadav was walking home after having dinner with a friend in Dublin on Sunday, July 27th, when he was attacked by “a gang of five or six teenagers”, leaving him with injuries all over his body.
“They approached me from behind and immediately smashed my glasses,” Dr Yadav said. “They started hitting me, quite hard. They hit me in the face, on my chest, my back, my legs. Everywhere.
“They hit me so much, and then just ran away. I was on the pavement, bleeding everywhere,” he said. “It all happened quite fast. I wasn’t prepared for such things to happen”.
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The assault took place near Clondalkin train station at about 11.30pm. He called gardaí and was taken by ambulance to Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown, where he received a CT scan on his head and a full-body X-ray.
A Garda spokesperson said they “received a report of an alleged incident of assault” and brought Dr Yadav to hospital “for treatment of serious injuries, believed to be non-life-threatening at this time”.
Investigations into the incident are ongoing, they said.
Days on from the assault, Dr Yadav continues to suffer head trauma and swelling. He has a fractured cheekbone and is heavily bandaged on his hands, arms, and legs.
Dr Yadav moved to Ireland from India more than four years ago. He works as a senior data scientist. He has had to take time off work to recover from the attack and while he waits for a specialist procedure in St James’s Hospital to treat his fractured cheekbone.
He described the assault as “a brutal, unprovoked racist attack”, although “not an isolated incident”.
Earlier this month, an Indian man was beaten, stabbed, robbed and partially stripped in an unprovoked attack by a gang in Tallaght. The father of a young infant, this man arrived in Ireland three weeks previously take up a tech job with Amazon.
The Tallaght assault is being investigated as a possible hate crime by gardaí, who believe the attackers may have recently carried out similar assaults on foreign nationals in the area.
“In the last year I’ve seen a huge increase in these incidents,” Dr Yadav said.
“There have been incidents where two or three [Indian] students were beaten in front of me, but they haven’t raised these concerns.”
“They’re worried about their jobs or their studies. They’re afraid to speak up. They don’t want to worry people at home.
“I’m happy to share my story as much as possible because I know this is not just about me, this happens everyday. A lot of Indians are being targeted.”
He said the Indian community in Ireland had “an impression that Irish people are so welcoming, so humble, such good people. I’ve been to almost every county in Ireland, and everyone has been so welcoming.
“I think these teenagers are destroying those values and that culture,” he said. “I see this every day, on the bus, the Luas, the streets: teenagers just beating people up. It sometimes feels like nothing will happen, that they can keep doing these things.”
In the aftermath of the assault, Dr Yadav contacted the Indian embassy in Dublin for support. He said he appreciated that some officials visited him at home while he recovered from the attack, although he wants a bigger effort to ensure people’s safety.
Last week members of the Indian community in Ireland met the Indian ambassador to Ireland, Akhilesh Mishra.
In a statement, the Indian embassy in Dublin said there had been an increase in attacks on Indian citizens in Ireland recently and it has been in touch with the relevant authorities. “All Indian citizens in Ireland are advised to take reasonable precautions for their personal safety and avoid deserted areas, especially in odd hours,” it said.
On its social media platforms the Embassy of India urged all Indian citizens in the country to avoid going to deserted places and exercise heightened caution.
The Embassy also provides emergency details for concerned or affected citizens to contact. Census figures show that there are up to 46,000 Indian citizens living in Ireland.
