Jody Holeton
16th January 2003, 04:20
http://news.sify.com/cgi-bin/sifynews/news/content/news_fullstory_v2.jsp?article_oid=12525778&category_oid=-20611&page_no=1
Indian in Japan wins damages for skin query
Tokyo, Jan 15
A Japanese court has ordered a real estate agency and one of its employees to pay damages for asking an Indian man if his skin colour was "normal" when he phoned the firm to find an apartment.
"Asking a foreigner his or her skin colour is a clear violation of individual rights," judge Sota Tanaka told Saitama District Court, north of Tokyo, awarding Srirama Chandra B Murthy damages totalling 500,000 yen.
Murthy, who works for a software company, had demanded the company, the employee and Saitama prefecture pay a total of 1.2 million yen for the distress he suffered.
The judge rejected the argument that the prefecture should also be held liable as it is obliged to supervise the agency.
Murthy phoned the agency, Nikken Juhan, in April 2001 to find an apartment in Toda City, Saitama prefecture.
According to the Tokyo Shimbun -- which reported the ruling handed down on Tuesday -- the employee who received the call asked him: "What is your skin colour? Is it the normal colour?"
When Murthy asked what colour was normal, she said "like Japanese", prompting the infuriated Indian to hang up.
Saitama court officials confirmed the amount of the award, but declined to give other details of the ruling.
Indian in Japan wins damages for skin query
Tokyo, Jan 15
A Japanese court has ordered a real estate agency and one of its employees to pay damages for asking an Indian man if his skin colour was "normal" when he phoned the firm to find an apartment.
"Asking a foreigner his or her skin colour is a clear violation of individual rights," judge Sota Tanaka told Saitama District Court, north of Tokyo, awarding Srirama Chandra B Murthy damages totalling 500,000 yen.
Murthy, who works for a software company, had demanded the company, the employee and Saitama prefecture pay a total of 1.2 million yen for the distress he suffered.
The judge rejected the argument that the prefecture should also be held liable as it is obliged to supervise the agency.
Murthy phoned the agency, Nikken Juhan, in April 2001 to find an apartment in Toda City, Saitama prefecture.
According to the Tokyo Shimbun -- which reported the ruling handed down on Tuesday -- the employee who received the call asked him: "What is your skin colour? Is it the normal colour?"
When Murthy asked what colour was normal, she said "like Japanese", prompting the infuriated Indian to hang up.
Saitama court officials confirmed the amount of the award, but declined to give other details of the ruling.