Police smiled while I was abused: Indian cabbie in Australia

MELBOURNE - An Indian taxi driver says police just smiled as they listened to his passengers racially abusing him outside a police station in Australia.

Gurpreet Singh Ashreja, 29, said he drove to Chelsea police station for support after his passengers refused to pay $47 in fares. But he received a loud dressing down and a lecture about use of the “f-word”, The Age reported.

“I have no doubt that I was discriminated against because of my race,” Ashreja said.

He took the six passengers to the station on the advice of the cab company, hoping to get the rest of his fare.

Police had been alerted and were waiting for him outside, but one officer allegedly told him it was a civil matter and police only dealt with criminal matters.

He said he was also ridiculed for not wearing the proper taxi uniform, which the fare evaders thought was funny.

Ashreja said one officer then shouted at him about the way he had parked his cab.

The passengers got out of the cab and started shouting: “You f—— Indian bastard, go back to your own country, you c—”, he said. The policeman was “watching this and I could see a smile on his face”.

Police are investigating the incident.