The Union government on Friday agreed before the Supreme Court to take appropriate measures to ensure people from North-East don't face any harassment since some people mistook them as Chinese from where the Coronavirus originated.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and B R Gavai recorded a statement of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and disposed of a plea filed by Alama Golmei and another person.
The petitioners led by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves highlighted grievances of North-East people.
They pointed out materials indicating that certain harassment has been meted out to the people belonging to the North-East. They are facing several difficulties due to the fact that the people, in general, mistook them having some affinity with Chinese from where the coronavirus has been emanated, the counsel said.
Mehta, for his part, said there was already a helpline for North-East people. To this, the counsel for the petitioners submitted that the said helpline was not responding.
"Be that as it may, the Solicitor General has submitted that the material which has pointed out in the writ petition shall be attended to and appropriate measures are taken by the government to dispel the apprehensions of the petitioners on an urgent basis," the bench said and closed the petition.
A woman from Manipur faced a lewd comment on returning home in Delhi in March. The accused, who was arrested, also allegedly spat on her, calling her as Coronavirus.
A New Delhi-based organisation, Rights and Risks Analysis Group brought out a report showing harassment of people from the North East. It documented 22 incidents of hate and racism.
The Union government's Ministry of Home Affairs had on March 21 issued an advisory all states to sensitise law enforcement agencies to take action in case of harassment of North East people after the occurrence of COVID-19 in the country.