Go Back To India: Texas Woman Assaults Four Indian-American Women, Arrested

A woman in Texas was arrested after she assaulted a group of four Indian-American women, hurled abuses at them, and threatened to shoot them. One of the women took a video of the incident and it went viral on social media.

The incident took place outside of a restaurant in the parking lot and the woman, Esmeralda Upton has been arrested for assault.

The viral video was posted by Rani Banerjee on Facebook. She wrote in the caption, "an angry, drunk woman came at us with hateful racial slurs and even physically attacked us". She added that the police arrived in minutes and that she has never felt so "humiliated, threatened, and scared" in her life.

In the video, Upton is seen claiming that the Indian-American women weren’t American citizens because of the “way” they spoke. She also identified herself as Mexican-American and used racial slurs against them.

Indian-American women attacked by a racist woman: Accused arrested

Upton told the women, “you Indians are everywhere”, and told the group to “go back to India”, also adding, “we don’t want you here”. She asked, “If life was so great in India, why are you here?” while hurling abuses at them. She then started physically assaulting the woman recording the video and one of the women began calling the police.

Upton tried to snatch the phone of the woman who was filming the incident and threatened to shoot her if she didn’t turn her phone off and stopped recording.

Esmeralda Upton was arrested by the Plano Police and was charged with assault, bodily injury, and terroristic threats. She is being held on a total bond amount of 10,000 dollars. The incident is under investigation by the police department’s Crime Against Persons Unit as a hate crime.

The video triggered outrage on social media and many have condemned the incident, questioning the racist treatment meted out to Indians in the United States. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released a statement calling on the police department to investigate the incident.

The executive director of CAIR, Faizan Syed said, “The level of vitriol and alleged physical assault against four Indian-American women in Plano is truly appalling. This type of hate has no place in North Texas.” The organisation also called on law enforcement to investigate the incident as a hate crime.

Suggested Reading: Gendered Hate Speech & Crimes Online: Why We Need More Effective Enforcement