Assault on non-tribals: Students of Barak Valley demand new law, writes to MHA

July 7: Six youths were brutally thrashed in at Lawsohtun locality of capital Shillong in Meghalaya on Friday by a group of around 20 miscreants in broad daylight. Protesting this heinous move students of Barak Valley gave a memorandum to the Ministry of Home Affairs through the Deputy Commissioner of Cachar on Tuesday. They primarily demanded the enactment of a law for the security of the non-tribals of North East India.

In the said memorandum, the students from Barak Valley stated that, “In view of the recent attacks on non-tribals in Shillong and the frequent attack on non-tribals in various parts of North East over the years, we demand that a law should be enacted in the Indian Parliament. They also provided 3 terms of reference on the basis of which they proposed a new law to be enacted, which are:

•  Using derogatory words for Non-Tribal population living in North East be made punishable offence.
• The Non-Tribal business establishments or roadside vendors should not be discriminated and any such attempt to attack or extort the Non-tribal businessmen or vendors by any NGO be punished under a maximum jail term of 5 years and a compensation of 10,000 to Rs. 1,00,000 as per the loss caused.
• Any targeted attack on the non-tribals for their racial identity be made a punishable offence. 4 years jail term for seriously injuring and the maximum punishment of ‘death penalty’ incase of murder or lynching. Compensation should be provided by the govt to the family of the victim and the court should fine the guilty.

Holding placards, a section of the students also held a symbolic protest demonstration near the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Cachar. Present during the occasion were Rohit Chanda, Snehal Chakraborty, Subhash Choudhury, Nitish Tiwari, Ratnadeep Chakraborty, Souvik Bhattacharjee among others.

Also Read: 6 youths brutally assaulted in Meghalaya, MP Silchar airs serious grievance