Home Ministry adopts 'positive steps' to protect Northeast community in Delhi

Nido Tania's death has not gone in vain. Three years after the 19-year-old student from Arunachal Pradesh fell victim to a racial attack at the busy Lajpat Nagar market in the national Capital, the Centre has lined up a slew of measures to ensure that others like him can live peacefully with a sense of honour, free from the fear of racial discrimination, verbal abuse and physical assaults.

In an affidavit to be filed before the Supreme Court on Friday, the Union Home Ministry has disclosed the "positive steps" to protect the Northeast community in the Capital.

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POLICE TO PULL UP SOCKS

Mail Today has obtained a copy of the draft affidavit. "A police officer of the rank of special commissioner will ensure that police responds to these issues in a constructive and proactive manner and people from the Northeast do not face "any racial discrimination," states the affidavit.

Such a mechanism in Delhi Police will be monitored by the MHA and based on its experience, such mechanism will be replicated in other metropolitan cities, the officials associated with drafting of the document told Mail Today. The affidavit says that an officer of the rank of the additional commissioner of police hailing from the Northeast has been designated as in-charge of special police unit for Northeast region.

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Additional solicitor general Maninder Singh will submit the document in response to a public interest litigation filed by Karma Dorjee in 2014, soon after Tania's death. Similarly, an officer of the rank of joint commissioner of police/IGP has been appointed as nodal officer for Northeastern states issues. Separate district additional commissioners and DCPs have been appointed as nodal officers, who are required to interact with the citizens coming from the Northeastern states and residing in their districts. Special recruitment drives have been undertaken and will continue to be taken for appointment of citizens hailing from Northeastern states to be recruited as officials in the Delhi Police.

A number of steps have been taken for sensitization of policemen on this issue, says the MHA.

On October 17, the SC asked the Centre to set up a suitable mechanism or nodal agency to oversee and pursue implementation of the recommendations made by the MP Bezbaruah Committee not only in relation to the prevention of crime against people from the Northeast region of this country but also in relation to creating an atmosphere conducive for such communities from the far east to get proper assimilation in the mainstream society. SC had also taken note of the recommendation by Bezbaruah panel which had suggested amendment of Section 153 IPC to make racial slur a distinct offence.

THE SITUATION

It also considered the petitioner's plea that India needed to enact stronger laws since it had ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1965. Section 153A of the IPC punishes acts of promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and committing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony. The Centre decided to file the affidavit after SC on October 17 pulled it up for not being able to take enough measures to prevent racial discrimination of people from the Northeastern states.

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When the Centre had orally said steps had been taken to prevent racial abuse of the community, a bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur said: "The steps may be on paper. It is not judicially visible on the ground. You identify a nodal agency so that the court can question it about the complaints of racial abuse received by it and the steps taken." SC had told the Centre that there is a sizeable population of students from the Northeastern states in Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune and Chandigarh.

It wanted the Centre to present it with a picture perfect mechanism for Delhi and said if it was acceptable, it will ask the authorities at other educational hubs also replicate it. Racism runs rampant across the Capital. Out of camaraderie and safety concerns Northeasterners living in Delhi have gravitated to ghettoisation, primarily in South and North Delhi areas like Munirka, Kotla Mubarakpur, Satya Niketan, Chirag Dilli and Outram Lines.

RACISM IN CAPITAL

Tania's death had proved to be a tipping point against racial crime, sending shock waves among across the country. Tania had gone to Lajpat Nagar market with three friends and was looking for an address, when someone at a sweet shop allegedly began mocking him. He responded by breaking a glass door at the sweet shop and the incident escalated, leading to his murder.

In a city that has earned a bad reputation for inherent racism among its people, things are improving slightly after media attention and a change in perception, but there is still a long way to go if casual racism is to be erased completely from Delhi. Dilip Gurung, who is from Manipur and lives in Lajpat Nagar, said when he had first come to Delhi in 2002, people used to pass racial slurs at him on almost a daily basis, but things have improved over time.

"I still face problems, but people at large have become aware and such incidents have declined. However, there is a long way to go for people to acknowledge people of northeast as their own," he said. A majority of Northeast population in Delhi is still subjected to humiliation only because of their appearance.

More than two lakh people from the north-eastern states live in the Capital, of which around 50 per cent are females. In a project report released by the North East Support Centre and Helpline (NESCH), "official apathy" and "bias amongst the law enforcing agencies" were seen as the two major reasons that have amplified the racial abuse problem.

Many residents have also complained of lax attitude of police officers when it comes to dealing with racist attacks. "Some of the initiatives have been taken but that is not sufficient. Things have changed after a senior officer from north-east was deployed but government must keep the north-east community representative in consultation for addressing their issues," said T Romeo Hmar, who is also a representative of Delhi Police.

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