Now You Can Be Jailed For 5 Years If You Refer To Northeastern People By Derogatory Names

There is a growing disagreement, inequity, and injustice between north-eastern states and the remaining parts of India on racial grounds. While the use of words ‘chinki’, ‘chow-chow’, ‘bahadur’ and many others of the same likes is regrettably rampant in many parts of the country, we are now facing extreme forms of violence against the people from north-eastern states. Following this, the Home Ministry has taken a concrete step.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to amend the IPC for putting a stop to racial discrimination of North Eastern people

The legal framework will be strengthened, following which, a person can land up in jail for five years and it would be a non-bailable offense. “The Ministry of Home Affairs is in process of finalising a comprehensive bill for insertion of new sections of 153c and 509A in Indian Penal Code (IPC) which will be introduced in Parliament after inter-ministerial consultation,” said G Rohini (Bench of Chief Justice). “Besides insertion of new sections in the IPC, facilities for legal assistance, special police initiatives, bonding power of sports and educating the people about the North East have been also taken care of,” said Sanjay Jain (Additional Solicitor General (ASG)).

This action was taken because these people fell victim to a slew of attacks (especially in the Delhi region)

Earlier, there was an incident when a 19-year-old student from Arunachal Pradesh named Nido Taniam was killed because of an alleged racial attack in Lajpat Nagar in Delhi. Therefore, a proposed section 509A seeks to make any word, gesture or act intended to insult a member of any race with imprisonment which can extend for as long as three years.

However, the north-eastern people are not the only target. This form of brutal bigotry is not only played against north-eastern states, but the same holds true vice-versa. In January 2014, five men from Bihar were killed in Assam after being pulled out from a bus and shot at. Many north-eastern Indians consider discrimination a part of their daily lives. They call the death of Nido Taniam a tipping point. There are outrage and widespread protests against the injustice and inequity faced by them invariably.

Hoping to see some changes in this terrifying state of affairs.

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