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Curb crimes against Asian people with disabilities, urges APDA

THE surging crime wave against UK’s Asian people with disabilities and their households has unsettled the community.

The recent annual meet of Asian People’s Disability Alliance (APDA) saw members perturbed over robbery of homes with elderly and disabled occupants.


Members said many such households were in constant dread and distress. Living every moment with the lurking fear of thieves and gangsters was traumatic, they added.

The miscreants who target Asian homes often destroy property and leave behind a mess. Hence, whether at home or away, anxiety was a constant companion for the vulnerable.

What is more worrisome is the response victims get. For instance, said members, some of the crimes are attributed to Asian women owning or wearing jewellery.

That’s like saying women are attacked because of what they choose to wear or their lifestyles, said an APDA statement. It was a way of covering up “race and hate motives behind the actual crimes”, it alleged.

“This is happening all over London and even in the very ward that the London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s residence,” said the statement.

The alliance said officials should acknowledge that the Asian community was being specifically targetted, and such robberies be dealt with more stringently as hate crimes.

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Harshita Brella

Harshita Brella

(photo: Northamptonshire Police)

Four police officers face misconduct charges in Harshita Brella murder case

Highlights

  • Four officers accused of misconduct over handling of Harshita Brella’s abuse reports.
  • Brella was found dead in a car boot in London last year; husband remains on the run.
  • Watchdog says detectives failed to review case properly or safeguard victim.
UK police watchdogs have ruled that four Northamptonshire Police officers should face misconduct proceedings over their handling of domestic abuse allegations made by Harshita Brella, the 24-year-old Indian woman later found murdered in London. Brella’s husband, Pankaj Lamba, remains the main suspect and is believed to have fled to India.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said on Monday that its investigation found failings in how the force responded after Brella contacted police on August ( 29) last year to report abuse by Lamba at their home in Corby, Northamptonshire. She had moved to the UK only months earlier after marrying Lamba in an arranged marriage.

Lamba was arrested on 3 September ,2024 and released on police bail with conditions not to contact his wife. He was also issued with a Domestic Violence Protection Order. However, on November (14) last year, Brella’s body was discovered in the boot of a Vauxhall Corsa in Ilford, east London. Police believe she was strangled at their home days earlier, on the evening of November(10) before her body was driven to the capital.

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