Rajwinder Singh, the Indian student wrongly accused online of sexual abuse, has been awaiting justice after receiving death threats, and is now too scared to even step outside his home.
A photo of Singh riding a bus in Christchurch went viral after it was uploaded on Facebook in January, with accompanying message accusing him of molesting someone, not once but twice. "Please be aware of this guy," the message said. "He molested a friend of mine a while back and [sic] was let away with 'a warning'. He has since committed the offence again."
The post asked people to be wary of him, to share his photo and report him. This attracted hundreds of hateful comments. Many comments outlined warnings of violence should Singh be identified, and others wrote death threats while others were racially-charged, labelling him a "terrorist", mocking his turban and calling for his deportation.
Oblivious to this "hate wave" against him and unaware of the brewing social media storm, innocent Singh was going about his life until the day his boss called him. He told us that - his employer was tagged in the post. The photo circulated for eight or nine weeks, before it was taken down. Singh is still awaiting action from the Police.
Although this has been aptly covered by mainstream media, it was important that Singh found his voice through his own community and be assured that his own community stands right behind him. Indian Weekender also wanted to cover the story as it directly affects our community and also a large number of our readers rely on us for news from the larger New Zealand community.
Indian Weekender caught up with Singh and here's what he said:
IWK: How long have you lived in New Zealand?
Rajwinder Singh (RS): I have been here for seven months.
IWK: What do you do?
RS: I am a student at CPIT, doing double majors in Project Management and Operations and Production. I also work part-time at a gas station.
IWK: Where are you originally from?
RS: I am from Chandigarh, Punjab
IWK: How and why did you decide to come to New Zealand?
RS: I wanted to study Event Management. I could have gone for other countries like USA, Canada, Australia, etc. But first, I found a course of my choice; second, I can get industrial experience in New Zealand which is very hard to come by in other countries.
IWK: Do you want to stay here or settle permanently?
RS: Yes, of course, I want to settle in New Zealand. This is a beautiful country and people are lovely I would like to stay here.
IWK: Tell us a little bit about your family back home and if you have anyone here?
RS: Don’t want it to be publicised. My family back home are already very worried and stressed from everything that has happened. I don’t want to add to that. And I have no relatives or family here.
IWK: How did you get to know about the incident/ post on social media?
RS: The post was published on a Facebook page called ‘Missing Persons Christchurch And Canterbury’ on January 27 this year and my employer was tagged in it. He told me on January 29 about it. But he supported me, because he knows what kind of a person I am.
IWK: What was your first reaction when you realised that it was you on the post? How did that make you feel?
RS: I was shocked, I felt really bad. How can someone make such comments about anyone they don’t even know? I was working full time at that time and it was during the summer holidays. It takes me one hour by bus to travel to my workplace and one hour back. You know, you never realise if someone is taking your picture in a bus on their phone. Everyone is busy on their phones. You can’t actually get to know if someone is taking your picture or making a video.
IWK: What do you think could have driven the person to behave this way?
RS: I don’t know what they must have been thinking. Maybe just trying to have some fun. But how can someone have fun by making someone else’s life miserable? What kind of a person does that?
IWK: What did you do / what actions did you take?
RS: I was really scared by the threats made to me in that post and hence I went to the police the very next day when I got to know about the post, to make an official complaint. But to my utter shock and surprise, the police said that they can’t help me as the comments were made online on social media and not in person. They said they have emailed to the page admin, but he/she hasn’t come back to them. So if they didn’t reply to the police’s email, how can I expect them to reply to me? It’s now more than 10 weeks since the incident happened, but I can’t see any positive development in this case. I haven’t heard back from any police officer. But yes, the President of New Zealand Police Conduct Association, Shannon Parker, is following up with Christchurch Police on my case. She often calls me too, to follow up on any update I may have or if I have heard back from anybody from Christchurch Police.
IWK: Did you find that people were supportive of you or did you feel you were fighting a lonely battle?
RS: No, I wasn’t alone during this time. I had my friends by my side. My college, my teachers and my friends were extremely supportive. They all know me and showed trust and faith in me. Even the place where I am staying, the landlord is Indian and his family is also supportive of me. I have got immense support from not only the Indian communities, but Kiwi people too. I have received heaps of friend requests on Facebook since then. Kiwi people are also sending me messages on Facebook and sharing their contact number if I need help or support.
I am not complaining, but what I feel sad about is, the response that I am getting from Police. I mean how easily they said that they can’t do anything about those threats. But they told me that if in the future something happens, I can approach them and I will be given the same rights as any New Zealand citizen. But then, I feel that are they actually waiting for something worse to happen. My question is, if something happens to me in between all this, who will be responsible for that?
People back in India are also aware of this incident now, after it went viral and is all over the news. They are calling my parents to ask what happened and how, which is very disturbing for them and me as well. I am getting more and more stressed day by day.
I haven’t been able to study for days. I am afraid to go out in the night now as people recognise me after being interviewed on national television.
People think all this has brought me fame. But I can’t tell them how much stress I have got from this one incident.
IWK: Do you think this was a “one off” incident or are there other instances that your friends etc have faced?
RS: I haven’t heard of any, not at least in my friend circle.
IWK: How do you feel about the whole incident now?
RS: I come from a really small family. My parents have, spent their savings of like almost 40 years for my studies and to send me overseas. Like everyone, I also have the responsibility of my family. My parents have struggled a lot. I have also struggled, I live a very simple life, work hard but enjoy my work, whatever I do. My Family look to me for support, they have expectations of me and rely on me. I came to this Country looking for a bright future for myself and my family. I wasn’t expecting any such thing.
I do not even look up at women. My parents have raised me with good values and I follow them. Nobody has any right to comment about anybody like this, especially when you don’t even know them.
IWK: Has it changed the way you feel about living in New Zealand?
RS: No, I still feel good about New Zealand. I will never regret coming here. As they did in my case, you cannot generalise people. There are good and bad people. Wrong-doers shouldn’t be categorised according to their ethnicities. Not everyone is the same. I feel the same about New Zealand, if one or two people have done wrong to me that doesn’t make everyone else like them. I have so much support too.
IWK: What is the message you would like to give your readers?
RS: I would just say that these things happen in life, just stay together, work together and be positive, Support one another and don’t be judgemental. In Christchurch, with my ‘Diversity of Culture’ project people know me for my voluntary work. We organise different events for different cultures and communities and also distribute free food. People know me for my actions in the community. Recently we celebrated Holi, people saw me doing Hakka and Bhangra there, you’ll see me wearing Sri Lankan attire in our upcoming event, Sri Lankan New Year. I have earned some really good Kiwi friends and I am lucky to have them. There are days when I am busy from 8 am in the morning to10pm at the night. I don’t have time to go out and party. I don’t have time for anything else as there is always my study, projects and work.
This really stresses me out, how someone can blame someone for such an indecent thing. Sometimes, I just want to say, just let me do my work, let me be who I am. I don’t want any justice or anything else because I know I won’t get anything.
IWK: You just said that be positive then why don’t you believe that you will get justice?
RS: Because it been more than 2 month now. Nothing has happened yet. So I do not want to expect anything. It won’t harm anybody else but me. Only my stress levels will rise, only my problems will rise and I don’t not want that to happen. I just want to focus on my studies and my work.
IWK: How can we as Indian Weekender support you?
RS: I would like people to know about our culture more and more, only that can prevent anybody else like me from experiencing such situations/incidents.
We should grow our relationships with other communities so that we all get to know more about each other’s culture and respect it.
IWK: Is there anything else you would like to say?
RS: My mother has always taught me, “If you respect others, only then you can earn respect for yourself” and I have always followed her words. The world would be so much better if everyone thought this way….
It’s heart-breaking to hear this young man narrate his story and even more to realise that no action has been taken against the perpetrators of such "hate crimes". It can be even called racially driven. Singh has made some pertinent points about the Indian communities opening up and mixing with the other communities so our culture and values get known to them.
The Sikh, who are basically the warrior clan, originally formed for the protection of their communities consider their "pagdi" (turban) as a sign of honour. The only way to make this known to the mainstream Kiwi community is to speak to them which can only happen when we as a community make an effort to go out and reintegrate with the larger community. This will mean that we as a community cannot shy away and stay behind closed doors. It’s time to step out and take our rightful place as active members of the larger community. It’s time to stand united and resolve these issues facing the people.
Negligent not to follow up death threat
It is a huge injustice when there is a public attack on your character alleging criminal conduct, which is untrue.
That is what happened to Rajwinder Singh, who was falsely accused on Facebook of molesting a person. Death threats and racist comments followed. He was fearful of being attacked, and was stood down from his employment. When he approached the police for help, he was told there was nothing they could do.
A threat to kill is regarded by Parliament as a serious criminal offence. Under Section 306 of the Crimes Act it can result in a seven year sentence of imprisonment. The police should have followed this up at once.
To dismiss the comments as just people ‘venting their spleen’ and not real threats, as the police did, ignores the seriousness of the comments and the risk of vigilantism.
A false public allegation to a wide audience and subsequent threats to kill should not have been treated lightly by the police. The police should have contacted those individuals and at the very least, warned them of the serious consequences of their behaviour.
Like the declining police crime resolution rates, this case is further evidence that repeatedly cutting real expenditure on policing makes it harder for police to do their job properly and leaves us less assured of our safety.
The recent incident with Rajwinder Singh from Christchurch is most unfortunate. Here we have a young student invited to study in "Clean, Green and Safe" New Zealand and then he becomes an easy target for some ignorant bullies who know nothing about Sikhism.
There is a bill before the house which addresses significant issues linked to online bullying. While New Zealand First agrees with the intent of the Harmful Digital Communications Bill, we have some concerns around the scope of this bill. Rajwinder Singh’s recent experiences have highlighted the need to have legislation that effectively addresses any threatening or abusive behaviour online, digitally or on Social Media. Criminal behaviour on-line should be treated the same as criminal behaviour off-line.
The perpetrators of such behaviour should be brought to book and punished and this should be done with reasonable urgency. This young man has the right to study and live safely and he deserves our support.
It is really important that we think about what type of society we live in and how we treat each other. At a recent Act Party conference we carried out a competition for young people on how they wanted to see New Zealand. The strongest theme that came through was that most young people wanted to see New Zealand as a Country that is more respectful and more welcoming of other people.
Talking about the recent incident on social media, it is illegal under the Crimes Act to incite other people for violence, and there were definitely comments made that recklessly incited violence. I feel that Rajwinder has got a raw deal from the Police. The Police stated that they could not trace people from social media and yet the journalists from TVNZ were able to track them down.
My message to Rajwinder is that he shouldn’t lose hope. New Zealand is an overwhelmingly caring and welcoming country and our next generation is even more so.
I think police should have taken proper steps. But even if they can’t because they are bound by the law or rules and regulations, they should be equipped enough to satisfy the complainant or give him/her a satisfactory solution. If they can’t satisfy the, then they should understand that there’s a loop or gap somewhere which needs to be filled. I mean, until when it would keep happening. This is not happening for the first time. We have heard of many such incidents happening.
At last what solution is given, police says just be safe, protect yourself. But they should understand that people also have expectations from the police. They think if we are the one to solve their issue, then what is police for?
Also to public, I would like to say that whenever any such incident happens, do approach the police in right time and appropriate way. And this can happen with any one and can be done by anyone. I would request people not to make a racial issue.
Rajwinder is a really good guy. I never thought that something this bad would happen to him. He’s really good at heart and doing a good job in New Zealand. He has created and leading an international group called ‘International Cultural Squad’ (ICS). He’s really helpful to new international students, irrespective of their country of origin, in terms of helping them find job or accommodation. He’s doing a great job to explore people’s talents like: dancing, singing, acting etc. through various projects including, recent ICC world cup, Diwali festival, Holi festival and many more. We are with him in this hard time, we stand by him and support him as his friends. He is loved by all at CPIT whether one is from India, Sri Lanka, Korea, China or any other part of the world.
We support you Rajwinder, and we are with you!
Raj is a really great guy. I can never believe on anything of this sort about his behaviour. His behaviour is pretty good. He looks after everyone at CPIT. We completely support him and stand by him.