On the sixth day of their protest against the killing of a student from Arunachal Pradesh Nido Tania, hundreds of North-Eastern States’ students were detained by Delhi Police on Thursday after they tried to march from Jantar Mantar towards Parliament House. They refused to move out of the Parliament Street police station until Members of Parliament (MPs) of North-Eastern States heard them air their grievances. The protesters also claimed Nido Tania’s family members were receiving political pressure to tone down the movement. Meanwhile the statements of four of Tania’s friends were recorded under Section 164 of CrPc at a city court.
The protesters who were detained gave an ultimatum to not move out of the police station until their MPs came and heard their grievances and demands. Soon after this, Minister of State for Minority Affairs Ninong Ering along with eight MPs from North Eastern States, including Thangso Baite (Manipur), Agalta Sangam (Meghalaya), Birendra Prasad Baishiya turned up at the police station and requested the students to move to Jantar Mantar. “Ministry of Development of North Eastern region (DoNER) has assured to open a round-the-clock cell in the North-East hostel in Chanakyapuri. We demand them to keep lawyers and councillors there as they will be able to guide us. The law is our second demand,” said Binalakshmi Nepram, founder of Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network. Protesters also revealed that Tania’s friends are also being threatened by police and out of his three friends only one has agreed to identify the accused persons. The students will protest at Delhi High Court on Friday.
The case is now under the purview of fast-track court, as directed by the High Court. The court has also sought status report, to be tabled on Friday. “The North-East MP forum meeting on anti-racial discrimination law will be held tomorrow and an all-party meet will be called on Tuesday, D Apao, Organising Committee member said. He added, “The Home Ministry has asked us to suggest names for the commitee, which was set up by them and was rejected by us.”