A Muslim mother says she and her three-year-old daughter were subjected to “racial and Islamophobic abuse” at a London underground station, while a Traffic for London (TfL) staff allegedly shook the hands of the perpetrator.
Rashina Begum posted about the incident on Facebook and claims they were told to “f**k off back to your country” and “go back to Syria” at Mile End station at around 2pm on Sunday 24 February by a white male.
Ms Begum says she immediately informed a TfL staff about the incident and was taken into an office, as another station member went down to the platform.
However, Ms Begum said she saw on the CCTV screens in the office that the “perpetrator had his hand shaken by the TfL staff member” and was cordially led on to the train.
The mother said she was “outraged” with the way the TfL staff had handled the incident, adding that she had questioned why the alleged perpetrator hadn’t been taken aside and had his details reported to the police.
Ms Begum said: “This is clearly a racial incident which involved my 3-year-old girl who was absolutely shook up by the ordeal.
“This grown up adult cannot get away with this in this day and age.”
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Ms Begum says she has since logged a complaint with TfL and is still waiting for a response, as well as wanting the CCTV footage of the incident to assist police identify the man who allegedly racially abused her and her child.
TfL’s director of policing, Siwan Hayward, said in a statement to the Metro: “All of our customers have every right to travel without fear of abuse and we are urgently investigating this incident with our Mile End station team.
“We encourage anybody who experiences verbal or physical assault to report it to the police immediately or to our staff who are trained to contact the police and offer assistance.”
