The 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 Japanese daughter had sued the Tokyo Metropolitan Government for ¥4.4 million in damages over the alleged discriminatory treatment by officers from the Metropolitan Police Department.
Presiding Judge Masaki Katano said that "no illegality can be found" in the police's actions.
According to the ruling, the woman and her daughter were playing in a park in the Japanese capital in June 2021 when a male stranger approached them, alleging that the woman's daughter had kicked his son.
The man was quoted as telling them, "Foreigners are not worth living."
The plaintiffs claimed that one of the police officers who arrived at the scene following a report by the man told the daughter, "You must have kicked (the man's son) anyway."
Based on a sense of discrimination toward foreigners, the officer unilaterally concluded who was wrong in the incident, the plaintiffs also contended.
The judge said that this alleged behavior by the officer is considered "somewhat abrupt and unnatural" for police staff, expressing doubt that the remark was made.
The judge also defended police questioning of the daughter, dismissing the allegation that the daughter was questioned unattended without consent and pressed to admit that she had kicked the man's son.
At a news conference, the woman said it is very regrettable to see a ruling that encourages racial discrimination.
Her lawyer, Atsuko Nishiyama, said, "The ruling was based solely on the assumption that a police officer would not engage in such conduct, which is nonsense." Nishiyama hinted at the possibility of filing an appeal.