By Hakeem Irfan
Mizo students protest against the gangrape of a BPO employee from the North-East
New Delhi, April 18 : People from the north-eastern states who come to the Capital in search of better opportunities face racial discrimination even at the hands of the police.
A report has revealed that 78 per cent of the North-East population in Delhi is subject to several kinds of humiliation because of their appearance.
The project report on 'North East Migration and Challenges in National Capital: City's silent Racial attack on its own countrymen' released by the North East Support Centre and Helpline (NESCH) sketches the ugly canvas of problems faced by the natives of the North- East in Delhi.
"Official apathy" and "bias amongst the law enforcing agencies" are the major reasons triggering and amplifying the problem, the study claims.
The report laments the "official apathy" of the Delhi Police blaming its "inactiveness and bias" towards the community for major crimes perpetrated against the community.
The population of the north-eastern community in the Capital who do not face discrimination are either new to Capital or have lived here for less than a year.
More than two lakh people, of which around 50 per cent are females, from the north- eastern states of India live in the Capital.
"The north- eastern people in Delhi and NCR continue to face racial discrimination, racial attack, abuse, rape, molestation and killing. Since 2005, around 96 cases of crime against the north- eastern residents in the Capital have been reported," the report reveals.
The Delhi Police have, however, registered only 36 cases and are following up on only five cases, NESCH surveyors said.
"The inactiveness of the police officers on duty, who are biased in providing service to vulnerable men and women to racial attack and sexual violence and failing to book the perpetrators have fuelled more crimes against the North- East Indian communities in Delhi and the NCR," the report reads.
In 2011, statistics inform that more than 20 cases of crime have taken place against individuals of the community.
The figure of crime against north- eastern women according to the report is around 60 per cent including molestation, human trafficking, beating, rape and attempt to rape.
Taking a dig at the politicians in the Capital, the report says the system lacks the political will to act against the criminal elements in Delhi.
"They ( politicians) raise a hue and cry only after some huge untoward incident happens," the report adds.
The report urges the ministry of development of north- eastern region ( DoNER) to issue a directive to implement existing laws, policies and plan of actions to end racial discrimination faced by the north- eastern communities in Delhi.
"The North- East MP ( NE- MP) Forum must take note of the plights faced by their communities," the report says adding, " It should take up the matter with the law enforcing agencies and governments concerned." Earlier, the north- eastern community delegation visited DoNER and the NE- MP Forum to raise the issues of the community in the winter session of the Parliament. However, the Parliament boycott made this impossible for the representatives.
"We are going to meet the representatives before the monsoon session this year and ask them to raise the issues in the Parliament," NESCH spokesperson, Madhu Chandra, said.
The report says social profiling is the root cause of racial discrimination, attack and sexual violence against men and women from the North- East.
"The majority of North- East India residents come from scheduled caste and tribes.
They are ethnically from the Mongoloid race and fall out of the caste hierarchy. This is the reason they are discriminated against," Chandra added.
According to the report, over 414,850 people from North- East India migrated to other big cities in India during 2005- 2010.
The annual average increase in the number of migration is 13.62 per cent. Delhi is one of the most preferred destinations for North- East migrants with almost 48.21 per cent of the migrants moving to the Capital.
MAJOR CASES SINCE 2005
- A 19- year- old Mizo girl gangraped in Dhaula Kuan in 2005
- Seven- year- old girl from Nagaland gangraped, murdered and dumped in a water tank in Mahipalpur in 2009
- A 19- year- old Manipuri girl murdered after attempted rape by an IIT student at Munirka in 2009
- A 30- year- old Mizo woman who worked in BPO gangraped in Dhaula Kuan in 2010.
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