UK: Teacher cleared after rescuing schoolgirl from racist attack
01 June 2000
An Asian schoolteacher, Arvinder Singh Paul, walked free from Redbridge magistrates court, east London, in July after magistrates threw out charges of assault brought after he rescued an 11-year old girl from a racist attack in August 1999. Mr Paul had intervened to protect the schoolgirl after she was attacked by a gang of youths, only to later be arrested and charged. The police decision to pursue his prosecution, and the role of Ilford's Community Safety Unit, was condemned by members of the Asian community in Redbridge and Newham.
Mr Paul had just returned from work when his 11-year old daughter, who been playing with her friend in Goodmayes Park, came rushing home to get help, because the two girls had been victims of a racist assault by around 20 youths. Although his daughter had escaped, her friend was still being attacked. Mr Paul asked his wife to call the police and direct them to the park. He then drove there with his daughter. On seeing Mr Paul arrive, many of those involved ran off although the ringleaders remained. As Mr Paul anticipated the imminent arrival of the police, he waited at the scene of the attack so that his daughters' friend could identify those involved. When the police arrived, Mr Paul and the girls were surrounded by a threatening crowd of adults and youths. The police officers witnessed Mr Paul being racially abused and threatened and had to intervene in order to prevent them from being attacked. When police officers came to his house some time later, rather than assure him that action had been taken against the attackers, they arrested Mr Paul. The decision to pursue his prosecution - and in particular the actions of Ilford's Community Safety Unit, set up by the Metropolitan Police to tackle racist crime - has been condemned by members of the local Asian communities. Hundreds of letters and a petition with over 2000 signatures were sent to the Crown Prosecution Service demanding that the charges be dropped, but concerns that this case should never have been brought were ignored.
Commenting on the case, Tanuka Chokroborty-Loha, Mr Paul's caseworker at Newham Monitoring Project, said:
"No-one can understand how, in the aftermath of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, the father of a child who has been the victim of a racist crime can be treated in this way. This case nails the lie that the police have learnt lessons from the Inquiry and have changed. The involvement of the Community Safety Unit (CSU) in pushing the prosecution flies in the face of the promises made by senior officers that CSUs would provide sympathetic support to victims of racist crimes. We will be making a formal complaint about the way that Mr Paul has been treated and believe that Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Grieve of the racial and violent crimes task force should apologise personally to him."
NMP can be contacted at: Suite 4, 63 Broadway, London E15 413Q; Tel: 0208 555 8151; Fax: 0208 555 8170; 24-Hour Emergency Service: 0800 169 31 11; email: nmp@gn.apc.org