Dehradun, Jan 2: Students from the northeast held a candlelight march here to protest the killing of 24-year-old Anjel Chakma from Tripura and demanded justice, raising slogans against alleged racial discrimination.
Under the banner of the ‘Unified Tripura Students Association’ (UTSA), students from various institutions in Dehradun gathered outside Gandhi Park on Wednesday and marched to Ghantaghar (clock tower) with candles in their hands. Some students from other states also joined the protest.
Holding banners with Chakma’s picture, the students chanted slogans such as “Stop Racism”, “We Are Indians”, and “We Want Justice.”
Churanta Tripura, general secretary of the UTSA, Dehradun, alleged that police were trying to suppress the case and therefore not treating it as one involving racism.
He also alleged that the police asked them to stop the protest march, citing traffic issues due to New Year celebrations.
Chakma, a final-year MBA student at a private university here, was allegedly attacked and seriously injured with a knife and a brass knuckle by some youths on December 9. He died on December 26 after being hospitalised for 17 days.
While Chakma’s family and friends have termed the incident a result of racist remarks, the Dehradun police said their investigation so far has not found any evidence of racial discrimination.
Dehradun SSP Ajay Singh said that students from all over the country, including more than 2,000 from the northeast, come to Dehradun to study. He said about 250 students from Tripura alone are studying in the city.
A PIL was filed in the Supreme Court seeking judicial intervention to address the “continuing constitutional failure” to prevent and respond to racial discrimination and violence against citizens from northeastern states and other frontier regions.
The PIL was filed on December 28.
Anjel from Unakoti district’s Machmara went to Dehradun after completing his graduation in Holy Cross School, Agartala, to pursue MBA, where he was stabbed to death in the presence of his younger brother Michael.
The family members of Chakma want capital punishment or at least life imprisonment for all the accused involved in the incident. Anoop Prakash Awasthi, a Delhi-based lawyer, has made the Centre and all the states and Union territories as parties to the PIL.
“That the present writ petition is being filed seeking issuance of writ under Article 32 of the Constitution seeking issuance of writ in the nature of mandamus, order, direction or any other appropriate writ for the violation of fundamental rights as under article 14, 19 (1) a & (g) and 21, and thus seeking judicial intervention to address the issue of racial discrimination and violence against Indian citizens from the north-eastern states and other frontier regions of India,” the plea said.
“We are Indians. What certificate should we show to prove that?” words that tragically became the last recorded assertion of Anjel Chakma about his constitutional belonging before the confrontation escalated into brutal violence, it said while recounting the offence leading to his death.
The plea referred to media reports about Chakma’s death.
The attackers allegedly assaulted and stabbed both brothers and Chakma sustained severe injuries to his neck and spine, remained unconscious throughout his treatment, and died after more than fourteen days in intensive medical care, it said, adding his death triggered widespread anguish, protests, and demands for justice across the country.
“Issue an appropriate writ (ad interim till a legislation is made) in the nature of formulating comprehensive guidelines, recognising ‘racial slur’ as a separate category of hate crimes and determining punishment for the same,” the plea said.
It sought a direction to the Centre and the states to create a “nodal agency or a permanent body or commission or directorate” at the central level as well as at the level of each state where such racial crimes can be reported and redressed.
“Direct the respondents at central level as well as at the level of each state to make and create a dedicated special police unit in each district/metropolitan area to address the racial crimes,” it said.
The plea sought a direction to the Centre and the states to organise “workshops and debates at educational institutes on the issue of prevailing racial discrimination and ways to redress the same”.
The petition said that despite the unmistakable hate-based and racial motivation behind the crime, India’s criminal justice system lacks any mechanism to recognise or record racial bias at the initial stage of investigation.
As a result, such offences are treated as ordinary crimes, “erasing motive, diluting constitutional gravity, and perpetuating a pattern of impunity”, it said.
The plea said that the killing of Chakma is not an isolated incident but part of a long-standing pattern of racial abuse and violence against citizens from the northeastern states.
The petition recalls earlier cases, including the death of Nido Taniam in 2014 and numerous assaults on students and workers in metropolitan cities, incidents that have been formally acknowledged by the Centre in parliamentary replies but, according to the petitioner, remain unaddressed through any dedicated legislative or institutional framework. (PTI)
