Australian couple Matthew Gordon and Emily Kassianou have been traveling around India. This past Saturday, while eating at a restaurant in Bengaluru, they were mobbed and harassed by locals.
Gordon has a tattoo of the Hindu goddess Yellamma on his leg, which apparently offended some observers.
After one man confronted Gordon, a crowd of approximately 35 others gathered around the couple and threatened to skin the tattoo off Gordon’s leg.
Shortly thereafter, a policeman approached the couple and reportedly told Gordon that "this is India and one couldn’t sport such a tattoo on the leg".
The couple was then taken to the Ashok Nagar police station and held there for three hours, while the mob followed. They were only released after Gordon, under pressure from the police, wrote an apology letter.
Dear sir,
My name is Matthew, visiting from Melbourne, Australia. I am very sorry for offending Hindu religious beliefs by my tattoo. I did not know of this auspicious custom in regard to tattoo placement. I will make sure to cover it up while I am in India. Thank you for educating me in what is appropriate in regard to body art on my body. I am also extremely sorry for using inappropriate language.
Kind regards,
Matthew.
After his release, Gordon posted an image of the letter on Facebook, stating that he shouldn’t have had to apologise for what is on his skin, and that it was a traumatic situation in which they were “harassed, threatened and mobbed”.
"I do not deserve to be victimised and have to physically defend myself and my girlfriend every day. She does not deserve sexual abuse both physical and verbal," Gordon said in his post.
Reactions from Indians on social media have been mixed.
