J Today Nov 30 06 Disabled Pakistani naturalized Japanese, barred from boarding Sendai bus, wins damages

mytest

Hi Blog. No comment for now, as I’m on the road. Anybody else find some articles on this? Have the Kyodo article in Japanese blogged before this. Debito

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Disabled Pakistani, barred from boarding Sendai bus, wins damages
http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/391965
Thursday, November 30, 2006 at 15:11 EST

SENDAI — The Sendai District Court ordered the local city government
to pay 550,000 yen in compensation to a Pakistani-born physically
disabled man for a city-run bus’s refusal to board him in 2003,
recognizing the treatment as a form of racial and disability
discrimination. “The driver did treat him implicitly in a
discriminatory manner on the grounds of a difference in ethnicity and
the handicap,” Judge Yoshiko Hatanaka said.

The 60-year-old man, who has paralysis on the left side of his body,
tried to take the bus in Sendai in October 2003. The Sendai city
government had argued that the driver thought that the man was
checking the timetable at the bus stop when he started the bus and so
the move was not a discriminatory action, but the judge said, “The
driver’s testimonies have changed and cannot be trusted.”
ENDS

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JAPAN TIMES ARTICLE

Friday, Dec. 1, 2006
Disabled man left at bus stop wins bias suit
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20061201a7.html

SENDAI (Kyodo) The Sendai District Court ordered the city Thursday to pay 550,000 yen in redress to a Pakistani-born disabled man who was denied a ride on a city bus in 2003, ruling the snub constituted discrimination against his race and disability.

“The driver treated him implicitly in a discriminatory manner on the grounds of a difference in ethnicity and the handicap,” Judge Yoshiko Hatanaka said, ruling the treatment hence violates the Constitution, which stipulates equality under the law, and the international treaty against racial discrimination that Japan has ratified.

The Sendai government is considering appealing the decision, city officials said.

The plaintiff, 60, who is paralyzed on the left side, tried to take the bus to meet with a friend visiting from Pakistan in October 2003. He is now a Japanese national.

The bus stopped about 22 meters past the stop where he was waiting. He boarded once and asked the driver to wait so he could go back to the stop and retrieve his luggage, and the driver had reportedly agreed. But once the man left the bus, it drove off.

The Japan Times

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