Kamal Ghorui
A cab driver who identified his last name as Singh and refused to reveal his first name has now sued the Queensland Police in Australia for racial targeting of him in a false case. The Indian-origin Pujabi cab driver was involved in an incident on January 26, 2023, after a resident claimed that Singh was masturbating in his car. The car was on a street in Lawnton, north of Brisbane. The resident hurled abuses at him and said: “You fu**ing Indian dog! He’s a paedophile. Get him off our street.” A year after, the case against Singh was withdrawn but he alleged he faced racial discrimination even from the cops. Singh told The Guardian that when cops were called, he showed them that he was on a phone call with his sister in India. He was moving his hand as he was speaking animatedly which got misunderstood by the man who complained. He also showed tham they he was in the area because he completed a ride nearby. The discrimination started since the beginning only as he was denied an interpreter, Singh said. He had a basic understanding of English but he was neither given an interpreter nor a lawyer, he claimed. Singh said one of the officers spoke disparagingly about Indians, referring to another case, and it was caught on the body cam. “Fu**ing Indians, mate, they are a bunch of fu**ing perverts,” another officer said referring to Singh’s case as Singh is also an Indian. A magistrate who heard the case and also what the two cops said called the remarks ‘racist’. Singh alleged to the federal court that police were negligent and guilty of misfeasance in a public office during his year-long prosecution. He is demanding $493,488 in compensation, plus aggravated and exemplary damages.The Queensland police claimed the recording was made accidentally, but the two cops were not racist. They also denied that Singh was refused access to a lawyer, translatior or a phone call to his sister.
