Case Explained:This article breaks down the legal background, charges, and implications of Case Explained: ‘No Centralised Data on Racial Slurs, Discrimination Against People From Northeast’: Govt – Legal Perspective
‘The State Governments are responsible for prevention, detection, registration and investigation of crime and for prosecuting the criminals through their law enforcement agencies.’
New Delhi: The Union government on Tuesday (March 24) informed the parliament that it has no centralised data on incidents of “hate speech, racial slurs, harassment and discrimination” against people from the northeastern states, claiming that ‘police’ and ‘public order’ were state subjects.
In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, raised by Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, Nityanand Rai, junior home minister, said, “The State Governments are responsible for prevention, detection, registration and investigation of crime and for prosecuting the criminals through their law enforcement agencies.”
He noted that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) compiles and publishes information on crimes, received from states/union territories, in its publication “Crime in India”, but said data on incidents of hate speech, racial slurs, harassment and discrimination against persons from the North-Eastern States “is not maintained centrally”
“There are provisions under the existing laws to take action against hate comments/ gestures and racial acts against the persons, including those from North-Eastern Region,” he said.
Rai also stated that the government has taken steps to ensure safety and security of people from northeastern region residing in different parts of India, including “issuance of advisories to the States/ UT Governments regarding action plan for providing security to people from North-Eastern Region, appointment of Nodal Officers in States/UTs to address the grievances of people from the North-Eastern Region, sensitization of enforcement agencies to take appropriate action in case of harassment, setting up of Special Police Unit for North East Region (SPUNER) in Delhi Police, launching of special helpline numbers and dedicated email ID for lodging complaint/ grievances by NE people, etc”.
He also said that chief secretaries, administrators and DGPs of all states have also been “advised to sensitise police personnel in their States about relevant legal provisions available in cases of racial discrimination” against northeastern persons and “to replicate the best practices undertaken by Delhi Police in their respective States/UTs”.
He further referred to the December 2016 judgement of the Supreme Court, stating that a three-member monitoring committee set up by the home ministry for monitoring of issues and redressal of grievances relating to racial discrimination faced by people from northeast holds meetings regularly.
Racism directed at communities from Northeast India is, however, very common.
On February 23, this year, The Wire reported, three women from Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, living in south Delhi’s Malviya Nagar, were allegedly subjected to racial slurs and abusive remarks by their neighbour during a dispute over minor repair work. The accused reportedly called the women ‘momo’, ‘sex workers’, ‘parlour ladies’ and ‘drug addicts.’ The couple was subsequently arrested and remanded to 14 day custody by a Delhi court.
In December 2025, nationwide protests were held demanding justice for Anjel Chakma, a 24-year-old youth who was pursuing an MBA in Dehradun, who died after being stabbed during an altercation with some local men, who were hurling racial slurs at them because of how they looked and the language they spoke.
This article went live on March twenty-fifth, two thousand twenty six, at fifty minutes past six in the evening.
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