Australian harassed for sporting tattoo of Hindu goddess, forced to apologise in Bengaluru

From the archive record

A group of people harassed an Australian couple at a restaurant , even threatening to skin the young man’s leg, for sporting the tattoo of Hindu goddess Yellamma on his shin. Their ordeal did not end there as the city police not only detained them but also forced the man to apologise to the group for ‘hurting their religious sentiments.’ The incident happened around 2 p.m. when Matthew Gordon (21) and his girl friend Emily Kassianou (20) from Melbourne were spotted by the group. “One of them came to me and confronted me about my tattoo. Soon, they surrounded us and threatened to skin my leg and remove the tattoo,” a shaken Gordon, a law student, told The Hindu on Sunday. The group soon called in more people and over 25 men gathered outside the eatery, not allowing the couple to leave. “A p