Deal firmly with race, language crimes: SC | India News
New Delhi: In a petition citing racially motivated attacks as the cause of Anjeel Chakma’s death in Uttarakhand last December, Supreme Court Those who attack people for their appearance, language, race, region or origin must be dealt with an iron fist, Wednesday said.A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Jayamalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi expressed reluctance to enter into the legislative domain and put in place a mechanism under the Penal Code to prevent gang-based violence against people on the basis of caste, place of birth and language.Petitioner Anup Prakash Awasthi highlighted repeated incidents of violence against people from North-Eastern states in many parts of the country only because of their physical characteristics and said they are routinely abused with racial slurs. “The killing of Angel Chakma is not an isolated incident but forms part of a long-standing pattern of ethnic violence against citizens of the northeastern states, including the death of Nido Taniam in 2014 and numerous attacks on students and workers in metropolitan cities, an event that has yet to be formally recognized in Parliament by any official outfit, legal or institutional framework,” Awasthi said.The CJI-led bench said India’s strong federal character, founded on unity of citizens despite cultural, linguistic and regional diversity, cannot be allowed to be undermined by such crimes, which need to be dealt with with an iron hand.The bench said the petitioner’s plea to the court to formulate guidelines, based on the Vishakha judgment to prevent sexual harassment of women at workplace, would be better dealt with by the government until Parliament enacts a law to prevent violence against people based on caste, region and language.The court asked the state to give a copy of the petition to Attorney General R Venkataramani and asked the AG to take up the matter with the concerned authorities of the central government.
