City leads in bias crimes against people of the N-E
The national Capital has the dubious distinction of being ahead of the rest of the country in racial discrimination against people from the North-East region, a committee has told the Delhi High Court. The committee, which had submitted its 80-page report to the Ministry in July, was set up after 19-year-old Arunachal Pradesh student Nido Tania was killed in an alleged racial attack in lajpat Nagar locality earlier this year.
As per the report, over two lakh people have migrated to Delhi from North-Eastern States between 2005 and 2013 and about 86 per cent of them have faced some form of racial discrimination. However, people from the North-East faced more problems in Delhi as compared to other Metros like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata, the report said.
Taking a grim view of the report of the 11-member panel, headed by MP Bezbaruah, a bench, headed by Chief Justice G Rohini, asked the Union Home Ministry to file an action taken report (ATR) on or before September 10, the next date of hearing.
The report also said over two-thirds of women from the North-East have reported that they faced discrimination or harassment in Delhi. The panel said that apart from the language and communication difficulties faced by them, the “Mongoloid” appearance of people from North-East also “accentuates” their problems.
It has suggested several long and short-term measures to tackle the issue after consulting various Ministries and departments. One of the suggestions said serious legal reform was necessary by changing the IPC to make racial discrimination an offence and introducing special police units and fast track courts for trying hate crimes. The committee has also suggested NCERT introduce certain aspects of the “North-East ethos” into the curriculum to “integrate each aspect of the region into the consciousness of the people outside.”
Resources of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry could also be used to create awareness about this issue, the report has said. The court had earlier expressed anguish over continuing incidents of violence against people from the North-East despite its orders and had sought a report from the Government on the steps taken by it to curb “the menace plaguing the society”.
The court had taken suo motu cognisance of media reports about the death of Tania. The fresh hearing in the PIl is centered on the recent death of a Manipuri youth in south Delhi on July 20 after being assaulted by five people.