Lok Sabha express solidarity with North East students
New Delhi, February 5 (IANS): Lok Sabha members across the spectrum Wednesday expressed their concern over the death here of a youth from Arunachal Pradesh, with Speaker Meria Kumar stating that the entire house was “one in protecting children from the northeast”.
Responding to concerns of the members on the death of 19-year-old Nido Tania last week, Meira Kumar said that incident should be condemned by the entire house. “A clear message should go that parliament of India, members of Lok Sabha are one in protecting children and people of the north east. We should send this message everywhere,” she said.
Tania, son of an Arunachal Pradesh legislator, was beaten up by shopkeepers in a south Delhi market following a quarrel over his appearance and clothing. He died in a hospital Jan 30. The victim’s friends say it was a racial attack. The speaker made her remarks amid din in the house. She later adjourned the house for the day.
Raising the matter after the house met at noon following an adjournment earlier, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj said that Tania died following quarrel after being taunted on his hair style. “I want to raise an issue with great pain... the death of a youth from north east that shamed us,” Sushma Swaraj said. She said two women from Manipur had also been molested in the national capital. “The child belonged to Arunachal Pradesh, a state whose every resident has stood as a soldier against China,” she said.
The BJP leader said students from north east come to Delhi and other parts of the country due to lack of quality educational institutions at their places. “India is a diverse country. People in Delhi should understand that if there are people with sharp nose, there are those with flat nose,” she said.
Taking a dig at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Sushma Swaraj said they participated in protest by students from north east when they should have been taking action to book those responsible for Tania’s death. She also took a dig at Congress over the din in the house. Sushma Swaraj demanded creation of hostels for students in the capital and said it should have students from north east and other parts of the country.
Minister of State for Minority Affairs Nino Ering said that the issue was not political. Ering said he had given a notice for suspension of question hour but withdrew it after a word with the speaker. The minister said that “racial discrimination” suffered by students of the north east was a serious issue. “A strong law should be passed so that such incidents were not repeated in future,” Ering said. He also suggested creating a committee to deal with complaints of students from the north east.
Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav said the entire house should condemn the incident. Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Basudeb Acharia said the incident was nothing but “racial discrimination”. He said every student has the right to go, study and work in any part of the country.
‘File Nido post-mortem report by Friday’
HC direct Delhi police to file fresh status report
New Delhi, February 5 (IANS): The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked the police to file by Friday a fresh status report - along with the findings of the autopsy - on the death of a student from Arunachal Pradesh.
A division bench of Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw refused to accept the status report filed by Delhi Police and asked it to file the report with post-mortem report and posted the matter for Friday. “If in Delhi, the capital of the country, you are unable to give post-mortem report in 15 days, even in a fast-track case like this, what will happen to (other) cases. We can only say that your infrastructure is at a primitive stage,” said the bench.
The court’s remark came after Delhi Police counsel Dayan Krishnan told the bench that the report which was submitted to court does not contain the post-mortem report of Nido Tania, who was beaten up by shopkeepers at Lajpat Nagar market here. He died later. “How many days usually post-mortem report take to come in Delhi,” the chief justice asked, to which police replied that report takes 15 days to come.
The police, however, said in this case the post-mortem report will come in couple of days as it was sent to CFSL CBI so that report can come faster. “Post-mortem report is still awaited, so I can’t comment on the nature of injuries or how he (Nido) died. There is special investigation team constituted to deal with the case,” Krishnan told the court. The police also told the court that it has been taking steps to protect people from the northeast.
The court took suo moto cognisance, calling it a “serious issue” and sought a report from the central, Delhi governments and the police to apprise it of the steps taken in the issue. Nido Tania, son of Arunachal Pradesh Congress legislator Nido Pavitra, was allegedly beaten up mercilessly by shopkeepers Jan 29 in south Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar market following a quarrel over his appearance and clothing. He died in a hospital the next day.
