Three attacks on people from the North East in various parts of the country in the last week have triggered demands for India to frame specific anti-racism laws.
On Wednesday, a Manipuri man, T Michael Lamjathang Haokip, was brutally assaulted in Bangalore by locals because he did not speak Kannada. On Thursday, two men from Nagaland youths were beaten up by a group in Gurgaon, which warned them to tell all people from the North East to leave the neighbourhood. On Friday, a woman from Mizoram was stabbed to death by her flatmate in Delhi. While the police are yet to determine whether the crime was racially motivated, the woman's neighbour said she had heard the alleged murderer hurl racial abuses at the victim.
These high-profile crimes both against people from North Eastern India as well as recent assaults on people from Africa has prompted human rights activists to demand new laws that will criminalise not just racist attacks but also racial comments and other forms of discrimination.
Comprehensive law
“The country needs a strong anti-racial law to condemn all forms of racist discrimination, abuse, assaults and killings," said Binalakshmi Nepram, founder of the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network/Control Arms Foundation of India. "This constant racist and vile attack on North Easterners in India, especially in the national capital, is not only infuriating but also a threat to their right to live. And the sad part is that the government too is not treating the matter with urgency,”
The Ministry of Law Affairs needs to take immediate steps to frame a strong anti-racism law that will cover all kinds of racist crimes committed against racial minorities living away from home, said Colin Gonsalves, senior Supreme Court advocate and the founder of Human Rights Law Network.
While Section 153-A of the Indian Penal Code makes hate speech a punishable offence, the law is not very well-defined, he said. Specific terms of abuse must be highlighted in the law, Gonsalves said.
Housing discrimination
“Even issues like landlords throwing out their tenants on the grounds of his tenant’s race should be punishable," said Gonsalves. "These are sensitive issues at the ground level and until harsh steps are taken against them, the bigger crimes like assaults and murders cannot be controlled.”
The Human Rights Law Network is developing a petition about such a law that it will file to the Supreme Court on Monday, the lawyer said.
The petition will also ask the court to form a committee to monitor investigations into racist crimes because the police are often very lax about such incidents
The reason why strong action is not taken against cases of racism is because the police officials themselves are racist, said Delhi-based lawyer Vrinda Grover.
“North Eastern people are mistreated even they go to the police station to lodge a complaint," Grover said. "Let alone the public, there are police officials in Delhi who make racial remarks or treat their case casually because of the complainant’s racial background.”
Police bias
In addition, the police often refuse to acknowledge when cases are have been triggered by race, she said. “Look at the assault of the Nagaland youths in Gurgaon on Thursday, which is a clear case of racial assault," Grover said. "But the police is refusing to admit that the attack was racially motivated.”
In February, a month after the murder in New Delhi of Nido Tania, a 20-year-old student from Arunachal Pradesh, the Ministry of Home Affairs constituted an 11-member committee headed by MP Bezbaruah, to look into the problems pertaining to discrimination against citizens from North Eastern India. Among other measures, the committee recommended that the government create a new law under which people who commit hate crimes against North Easterners can be prosecuted. However, the government is yet to implement any measures suggested in the report.
“Despite the report painting a grim picture of the existing racial discrimination and attacks in the country, the Home Ministry has chosen to ignore it,” said Gaurav Bhattacharya, an advocate from Assam. "Not a single suggestion has been taken seriously and neither has the central government initiated step to ensure the safety of the people suffering from racial discrimination."
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On Wednesday, a Manipuri man, T Michael Lamjathang Haokip, was brutally assaulted in Bangalore by locals because he did not speak Kannada. On Thursday, two men from Nagaland youths were beaten up by a group in Gurgaon, which warned them to tell all people from the North East to leave the neighbourhood. On Friday, a woman from Mizoram was stabbed to death by her flatmate in Delhi. While the police are yet to determine whether the crime was racially motivated, the woman's neighbour said she had heard the alleged murderer hurl racial abuses at the victim.
These high-profile crimes both against people from North Eastern India as well as recent assaults on people from Africa has prompted human rights activists to demand new laws that will criminalise not just racist attacks but also racial comments and other forms of discrimination.
Comprehensive law
“The country needs a strong anti-racial law to condemn all forms of racist discrimination, abuse, assaults and killings," said Binalakshmi Nepram, founder of the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network/Control Arms Foundation of India. "This constant racist and vile attack on North Easterners in India, especially in the national capital, is not only infuriating but also a threat to their right to live. And the sad part is that the government too is not treating the matter with urgency,”
The Ministry of Law Affairs needs to take immediate steps to frame a strong anti-racism law that will cover all kinds of racist crimes committed against racial minorities living away from home, said Colin Gonsalves, senior Supreme Court advocate and the founder of Human Rights Law Network.
While Section 153-A of the Indian Penal Code makes hate speech a punishable offence, the law is not very well-defined, he said. Specific terms of abuse must be highlighted in the law, Gonsalves said.
Housing discrimination
“Even issues like landlords throwing out their tenants on the grounds of his tenant’s race should be punishable," said Gonsalves. "These are sensitive issues at the ground level and until harsh steps are taken against them, the bigger crimes like assaults and murders cannot be controlled.”
The Human Rights Law Network is developing a petition about such a law that it will file to the Supreme Court on Monday, the lawyer said.
The petition will also ask the court to form a committee to monitor investigations into racist crimes because the police are often very lax about such incidents
The reason why strong action is not taken against cases of racism is because the police officials themselves are racist, said Delhi-based lawyer Vrinda Grover.
“North Eastern people are mistreated even they go to the police station to lodge a complaint," Grover said. "Let alone the public, there are police officials in Delhi who make racial remarks or treat their case casually because of the complainant’s racial background.”
Police bias
In addition, the police often refuse to acknowledge when cases are have been triggered by race, she said. “Look at the assault of the Nagaland youths in Gurgaon on Thursday, which is a clear case of racial assault," Grover said. "But the police is refusing to admit that the attack was racially motivated.”
In February, a month after the murder in New Delhi of Nido Tania, a 20-year-old student from Arunachal Pradesh, the Ministry of Home Affairs constituted an 11-member committee headed by MP Bezbaruah, to look into the problems pertaining to discrimination against citizens from North Eastern India. Among other measures, the committee recommended that the government create a new law under which people who commit hate crimes against North Easterners can be prosecuted. However, the government is yet to implement any measures suggested in the report.
“Despite the report painting a grim picture of the existing racial discrimination and attacks in the country, the Home Ministry has chosen to ignore it,” said Gaurav Bhattacharya, an advocate from Assam. "Not a single suggestion has been taken seriously and neither has the central government initiated step to ensure the safety of the people suffering from racial discrimination."