Damages Awarded to S. Asian over Tokyo Police Dispute Handling

17 Ottobre 2025

Tokyo, Oct. 17 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo High Court has awarded damages to a South Asian woman and her 8-year-old daughter, who has Japanese nationality, over a police officer’s handling of a dispute. Presiding Judge Osamu Hagimoto on Thursday ordered the Tokyo metropolitan government to pay 660,000 yen to the mother and the daughter, revising a lower court ruling that rejected their damages claim. According to the ruling, an unknown man confronted the two in a park in June 2021, claiming that the man’s son was kicked by the woman’s daughter. After questioning them, the police officer of the Metropolitan Police Department provided the man with the woman’s address, name and telephone number on condition that the information would be used in a civil lawsuit. But the man later made many discriminatory social media posts that included the woman’s personal information. The judge said that the officer should have recognized the possibility that the man would defame the woman if he got her personal information, given his violent behavior at the scene that apparently reflected discrimination against the woman. Hagimoto concluded that the officer’s act was illegal because it violated the duty of care, even if it was conducted with the woman’s consent. The ruling, however, again dismissed the plaintiffs’ claim that the officer told the daughter, “I know you have kicked (my son),” saying that it is hard to imagine that a police officer would make such a remark. The plaintiffs’ lawyer expressed strong dissatisfaction with the ruling at a press conference, while Tokyo police senior official Hiroyuki Shoji said the department will consider how to respond after examining the ruling. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] 

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