Tripura Students Forum condemns racial harassment of youth, says incident hurt Northeasts sentiments

Bir Siraj Debbarma of the Tripura Students Forum Delhi said the incident took place on September 19, but the video resurfaced and went viral on Wednesday. He said the forum approached the Delhi Polices Special Police Unit for the North Eastern Region (SPUNER) to discuss the matter and seek action.

The incident took place on September 19, but the video resurfaced and went viral only yesterday. Through this video, we learned that the victim is also from Tripura. Yesterday, we went to the SPUNER office, a Delhi Police special unit for people from the Northeast, to discuss the matter. After nearly two hours of discussion, we learned that we could not directly file a case because we did not know the location of the incident or have the victim's contact details. We subsequently filed a formal complaint with the support of the SPUNER DCP, who recommended registering a case with IFSO. The DGP of Tripura also called and said he was personally taking up the matter. The state government is now involved, and the police have traced details of the victim and the location of the incident, Debbarma said.

Shakti Debbarma of the Tripura Students Forum Delhi said incidents of alleged racial harassment against people from the Northeast had repeatedly surfaced and called for steps to prevent such behaviour.

These issues come up every year. In 2014, Nido Taniam was murdered over racism. Recently, Angel Chakma was murdered in Dehradun. He was called 'Chinese' and 'Chinki'. Such incidents are getting worse day by day, and we want to stop this. We want the authorities to take steps and people to understand that such behaviour is unacceptable. The incident has hurt the sentiments of people across the Northeast and disrespected Tripura. The Tripura Chief Minister is looking into the matter, and the state's DGP is taking it seriously. They have assured us that justice will be delivered, Shakti Debbarma said.

Earlier today, following massive outrage over a viral video showing the harassment and humiliation of a youth from Tripura, Delhi Police on Thursday registered a case against social media influencer Amir Shokeen at the Sadar Bazar police station.

According to Delhi Police, a case has been registered against Shokeen under Sections 192 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 196 (promoting enmity between different groups), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and 353 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Police revealed that the influencer has a previous criminal history, with earlier cases registered against him under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), and 506 (criminal intimidation).

Meanwhile, Tripura Police have also registered an FIR and dispatched a special team to the national capital to coordinate with Delhi Police and ensure strict legal action against the accused.

Speaking to ANI on the incident, Tripura Director General of Police (DGP) GS Rao said that both the victim and the perpetrator have been identified, and legal proceedings are underway.

"This video came to our notice yesterday evening. Taking cognisance of it, a complaint was received, and an FIR has been registered. A team from Tripura Police is leaving for Delhi," Rao said.

The DGP further added that he has personally coordinated with senior officials of the Delhi Police to expedite the investigation. (ANI)