Last week, Anthony O’Donohue, the man accused of setting Manmeet Alisher on fire in Brisbane two years ago, was ordered to remain in a mental facility for 10 years. The trial was discontinued, since the accused was found to be “of unsound mind” when the incident happened in 2016. In a ‘legal first’, the judge said her orders could not be revoked for ten years.
But the Australian Indian community, especially the Punjabi community has reacted strongly to this.
Melbourne-based community activist and member of the Australian Labor Party’s national executive Jasvinder Sidhu immediately started an online petition, ‘in an effort to channel the community’s reaction.’
Within four days, the petition has gathered over 25,000 signatures and soon, it will be sent to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the Premier of Queensland Anastasia Palaszczuk, and Attorney General Christian Porter.
Speaking to SBS Punjabi, Mr Sidhu said, “We respect the ruling made by the honourable court, but we feel justice hasn’t been done with Manmeet Alisher, with his family and even with humanity. If so many signatories on my petition feel that race and colour have played a part in discontinuing charges against Manmeet’s killer, then our politicians need to look closely at updating the laws to bring them in line with community expectations.”
29-year-old Manmeet Alisher was a popular figure among Australia’s Punjabi community in Brisbane. He was killed on the morning of 28 October 2016 when Anthony O'Donohue used a bottle filled with petrol and diesel to set Mr Alisher alight, just as he pulled up at a bus stop.
14 other passengers were trapped inside the burning bus after Mr Alisher was set on fire.
Mr O’Donohue was arrested at the scene and charged with murder and 14 counts of attempted murder and arson. However, the trial against him was suspended and his case was committed to a mental health court.
On Friday August 10, the mental health court ruled that the case won’t be prosecuted any further and ordered Mr O’Donohue to remain in a mental health facility for ten years.
Judging by the reaction of SBS Punjabi listeners and friends on social media, the community is greatly dissatisfied at this outcome. A similar mood and personal views are on display in the comments section of the online petition started by Mr Sidhu.
Sue Ann Lewis writes, “This man was mentally stable enough to take petrol to a bus stop to set this poor man on fire, he should be deemed mentally stable enough to stand trial for this absolutely brutal & hateful crime. This poor man deserves justice.”
Another person who has signed the petition, Japsimran Bawa says, “It's not about skin color or nationality it's about an honest man being killed while serving the public and doing his job…. And this makes our beautiful country unsafe and threatened. I am sure everyone agree with this.”
But Mr Sidhu feels there maybe racial undertones underpinning this incident. “Given the political discourse in the past few months, and even utterances in our parliament this week itself about reverting back to a White Australia, can play it’s part in influencing people and their thought processes. How can we dismiss the impact these political utterances had on the mind of the accused?”
