Tokyo Court Dismisses Foreigner’s Claim of Police Discrimination

Jiji Press

18:00 JST, May 21, 2024

Tokyo (Jiji Press)—Tokyo District Court on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit by a foreign woman who claimed to have been subject to discriminatory treatment by police.

The woman from South Asia in her 40s and her 6-year-old daughter of Japanese nationality had sued the Tokyo metropolitan government for ¥4.4 million in damages over the alleged discriminatory treatment by officers from the Metropolitan Police Department.

In the complaint, the woman said she and her daughter were playing in a park in the Japanese capital in June 2021 when the daughter was shoved by a male stranger who shouted at them.

Police arrived at the scene following a report by a man who claimed his son had been kicked and took the plaintiffs to a police station where they were detained for four and a half hours without a search warrant.

Presiding Judge Masaki Katano said, “It is difficult to judge the police’s actions illegal.”

“Even after the testimonies of the woman and the police officers are examined, it is difficult to conclude that what the plaintiffs claim occurred,” Katano also said.

The plaintiffs argued that the police officers, out of a discriminatory attitude against foreigners, unilaterally determined that the woman was the cause of the incident at the park. The Tokyo metropolitan government argued that the police actions were not based on racial discrimination and not problematic.