A group of people harassed an Australian couple at a restaurant in the city, even threatening to skin the young man’s leg, for sporting the tattoo of Hindu goddess Yellamma on his shin, reported The Hindu .

Law student Matthew Gordon (21) and Emily Kassianou (20), both from Melbourne, were planning to stay in the city till February. But after facing harassed not only by an angry mob but also the police over the tattoo on Saturday, they have said fear has made them consider leaving the city and even the country.

Matt was quoted in The Hindu saying , ‘The policemen advised me on Hindu religion and insisted I give a written apology for not covering my goddess tattoo, even as the group just watched. I tried taking law points, but had to finally give in as my girlfriend was in tears as the cops wouldn’t let us go.’

Gordon, who also has a Ganesha tattoo on his back, said that he didn’t want to stay in Bengaluru anymore and that he shouldn’t be victimised for following his spiritual journey and the markings on his body.

My forced letter of apology that I had to write before I could leave the police station at Ashok Nagar. I should not…

Posted by Matt Keith on Sunday, 18 October 2015

The local politician attached to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who took objection to Gordon sporting the tattoo, RV Ramesh Yadav, spoke to The Hindu , “We did not force him to write an apology letter. He voluntarily gave that letter. We and the police only educated him about the Hindu values and that sporting that tattoo on the leg would be taken as an insult to the religion. We let him go, after asking him to wear a pair of trousers and not sport the tattoo.”