Instructions against racial profiling : Open to interpretations
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 07, 2012 -

Candle Light vigil for Loitam Richard & Dana Sangma at Shillong on 03 May 2012 :: Picture - Pupu Zou

If the law is an ass then how would one tag a 'strict official instruction' that seeks to redress certain grievances without admitting to it ?

This is not a question plucked from thin air but has become necessary in the backdrop of the recent instruction issued to all the States to crack down on racial profiling of the North East people and to book such offenders under the Prevention of Atrocity Against Scheduled Tribes and Castes Act.

The penalty includes imprisonment of upto five years and strict action against police personnel who refuse to lodge a case against racial abuse.

The interesting point is, this instruction has come even as the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister have been stoically maintaining that there is no racism in India.

So what exactly is the message that Delhi is trying to ring out ? Juxtapose the recent strong stand adopted by Delhi with the controversial death of Richard Loitam and Dana Sangma and Delhi's instruction stands open to numerous interpretations.

For one, Delhi is seeking to address an issue without admitting to it and secondly this may be seen as an attempt to soothe frayed nerves, a telling statement of treating the symptoms rather than the malaise.

In many ways the term chicken neck refers to not only a tiny stretch of corridor that connects the North East region with the rest of the country, but has come to mean a deeply entrenched psychological divide. It is this psychological divide which has dealt a more profound blow on the 'remoteness' of the region than the geographical location of the North East States.

Richard and Dana were not the first students from the North East region to die in mainland India under controversial circumstances.

There have been numerous instances of girls and boys from the North East systematically picked out and targeted in other parts of the country and to a large extent this has also been institutionalised, the continued imposition of a military Act like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, being a living and kicking example.

Uncomfortable question, it certainly would be, but what would have been the response of the Government of Karnataka if Richard had belonged to another State, say Maharastra or Gujarat ?

What are the constraints in handing the case over to the CBI, as has been the demand raised by quite a number of civil society organisations, including student bodies, in Manipur ?

Why play around with some vague assurances that the case would be handed over to a special unit of Karnataka police ?

Delivering justice is no doubt the most important pursuit in connection with the death of Richard, but why is the Government of Karnataka refusing to digest the universal observation that it is equally important to ensure that 'justice too is seemed to have been delivered' ?

Delhi needs to go much beyond issuing strict instructions to tackle all forms of racism in the country and the first and most important point is to admit that the people of the North East have been subjected to racial profiling in their own country for ages.