Context: A study commissioned by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) on racial discrimination and hate crimes against people from the northeast States found that the “northeast India seamlessly fits an Indian’s imagination of a Chinese person”.

• Conducted by: The Centre for Criminology and Victimology at the National Law University(NLU), Delhi conducted the study, under the aegis of the ICSSR.
• Purpose: The study analysed the prevalence of hate crimes against the people of the North East region in six metropolitan cities — Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Key findings of the Study

• Racial Discrimination: Around 78% of the interviewed people from the region believes that physical appearance was the most important reason for prejudice.
• Mumbai (44.7%) reported the highest number of racial hatred incidents against the North-East People.
• Further, the acts of racial discrimination, against people from the North-East Region, increased after the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020.

Offensive and abusive language were most common across all six cities. Mumbai recorded the highest offensive and abusive language-related crime(74%). It was followed by Chennai (72%), Pune (67.3%), Delhi (64%), Hyderabad (48.7%) and Bengaluru (43.3%).

• The incidence of non-reporting of the incidents was 32.3%. Further, as many as 34% of persons faced a common issue of refusal to file FIR by the police.

Impact: More than 60% said their studies and work hampered seriously by such experiences.

Suggestions against Racial Discrimination against Northeast People

M.P. Bezbaruah Committee was set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs. It looked into the concerns of the citizens from the North Eastern States. Thus, It suggested remedial measures including legal measures that government could take. The important recommendations are:

• Policing: It recommended amendments to the IPC by creating new offences under Section 153C and 509A. Sections will deal with comments, gestures and acts intended to insult a member of a particular racial group.
• New law: Either a new law should be promulgated or the offences should be made ‘cognizable’ and ‘non-bailable’. It should have imprisonment extendable up to three years or five years with a fine.
• Social media: Government should set up dedicated Facebook, WhatsApp, helpline and email support for reaching out to North-Eastern people living in the rest of India.
• Dedicated Public Prosecutors: Set up a dedicated panel of lawyers to fight cases for North Eastern victims.50% of these lawyers should be women.
• Nodal Police Stations: Nodal police stations for North Easterners. So that the police officer can immediately register FIR instead of asking the victim to go to other stations.
• Fast-track courts: The Committee suggests the creation of fast-track courts for handling the cases relating to the North East people.

Note: The Supreme Court in Karma Dorji & Others vs Union of India & Others (2014) has also made several recommendations for the prevention and monitoring of racial hatred and violence. However, not much seems to have been done.