Killing of Tripura youth: Racial innuendos demand firm action

In 1980, when my wife, Snehlata, based in Delhi, attempted to call me on the landline at my place of posting in Aizawl (Mizoram), she was directed to book the call under international booking. It took quite a while to convince the telephone operator that Aizawl was as much a part of India as New Delhi. Not much seems to have changed since then. Little is known to the denizens of our country about the northeastern states. 

The death of 24-year-old Anjel Chakma, an MBA student from Tripura, who was stabbed by six goons in Dehradun on December 9 and succumbed to his injuries on December 26 merely because he objected to the racial slurs such as ‘chinky’, ‘momos’ and ‘Chinese’, has once again highlighted the racial hatred that has spread across the country in recent years. The hatred directed at people from the northeastern region across the country is worrying and dangerous for national unity. The police have not been adequately sensitised to the issue despite repeated incidents of racial discrimination and resultant hate crimes, including the murder of those who dared to challenge racial slurs. 

This is not an isolated incident but part of a series of racial abuses targeting people from the Northeast. On March 25, 2020, two Nagaland students were not allowed to enter a supermarket in Mysuru, as their looks were assumed to be those of foreigners. This was despite their producing their Aadhaar cards to establish that they were Indians. Four employees were arrested after the incident went viral.

Nido Tania, a 20-year-old student of Arunachal Pradesh, died after being attacked by a few goons in Lajpat Nagar in New Delhi on January 30, 2014, when he objected to racial slurs hurled at him. The incident raised a furore across the country. Soon after, the government set up the Bezbaruah Commission to recommend measures to curb such incidents. The Commission submitted its report in July 2014. 

Among its recommendations were the creation of nodal police stations for people from the Northeast, the appointment of nodal officers to attend to their grievances, the recruitment of youngsters from the Northeast into the police, the sensitisation of the police about the culture of people from the Northeast, the setting up of dedicated helplines for them, the provision of free legal assistance and the inclusion of chapters on the Northeast in school textbooks brought out by NCERT.

Though perfunctory efforts to implement the recommendations have been made, much still remains to be done. The Commission had recommended additions to IPC Sections 153C and 509A to deal with cases especially relating to denizens from the Northeast. Consequent to the IPC being replaced by the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, efforts were made to get deterrent punitive action included to be taken against those who dare to pass disparaging remarks against those from the Northeast. The recommendations were ignored, though there can be no gainsaying that stringent laws would have had a salutary impact on curbing such incidents. 

 While the incidents of racial slurs that end up in deaths hog the media headlines, umpteen such incidents go unreported, as the victims prefer to ignore them rather than to visit police stations where the police officers choose to ignore such complaints. The women in particular are taunted for their looks and language. Being vulnerable, they prefer to move in small groups. 

Of much serious concern is the way the police handle the matters relating to people from the Northeast. Despite the incident clearly reeking of racial abuse, Superintendent of Police Ajay Singh stuck to his version that the incident in which Anjel Chakma was killed was not of racial discrimination. The police resisted the complainant Michael Chakma’s efforts to file an FIR on December 10. On December 12, the police registered an FIR after the intervention of All India Chakma Students Union leaders.  They took another two days to carry out the investigation and then arrested five of them, giving enough time to the Nepali boy who stabbed Anjel to flee to Nepal. It was only after Anjel succumbed to the injuries and the media highlighted the incident that it drew the required seriousness.

When Takam Todo of Arunachal Pradesh, a popular parkour athlete, was studying in Pune, he was attacked by a few local miscreants for his looks in August 2016. Having been hit by a stone on his head, he was left bleeding on the road. When he managed to reach Chaturshringi police station, they refused to accept his complaint. When the Northeast community in Pune intervened, an FIR was registered after six days.

Police apathy in incidents of racial slurs against the people from the Northeast or violent attacks calls for serious attention. Special units for the Northeast region need to be set up in every town that has a sizeable population of people from the Northeast, and any laxity in attending to complaints from them has to be dealt with strongly.

(The writer is a retired Inspector General of Police, CRPF)