Condemning the killing of a 29-year-old Manipuri man in Delhi, Nagaland Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang Tuesday urged the personal intervention of Home Minister Rajnath Singh to ensure that the guilty do not go unpunished.
"It is indeed unfortunate that such incidents of discrimination and physical assault against people of the northeastern region residing in national capital region of Delhi continue to recur without any sign of reduction," Zeliang said in a missive to Rajnath Singh.
"The apparent singling out of people from the northeast for such attacks is highly condemnable and does not augur well for the country. I feel that the root cause of such incidents need to be addressed and remedial actions should be taken," he said.
Akha Salouni was assaulted by five people around 1 a.m. Monday following a spat while he was going to a friend's house in Kotla Mubarakpur area in south Delhi to spend the night. Police later took Salouni to a hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. Four people have been arrested in the case.
Eulogising Delhi Police over the prompt action, the Nagaland chief minister hoped the Bezbaruah Committee, set up by the government to identify measures to address issues concerning people from the northeast, would have made appropriate recommendations in its report.
Meanwhile, the Naga Students' Federation (NSF) said assaults on the people from the northeast would further alienate them from mainstream India.
"We have time and again asked the central government to take measures to safeguard people from the northeast but no concrete steps have been taken so far," NSF general secretary Easter Rhakho said.
