The Centre is considering two new Penal Code provisions to punish racial discrimination and insults. The decision is in accordance with recommendations made by the Bezbaruah panel set up last February to safeguard people from the Northeast living elsewhere in the country. The panel was set up after the murder of teenaged Arunachal Pradesh student Nido Tamia in New Delhi on January 30 last year. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has announced a slew of other measures for migrants from the region. Officials have clarified that the proposed Sections 153 C and 509 A will be general enough to cover the offences. The Law and Justice Ministry has agreed to the amendments. Section 153 C relates to imputations and assertions prejudicial to human dignity. No attack should be made on racial customs, behaviour and way of living. Violation of the provision may cause a jail term of up to five years. Section 509A relates to words, gestures or acts intended to insult a member of a particular racial group. Taunting Northeastern people with derogatory terms falls within the purview of this Section.
MP Bezbaruah, a member of the North Eastern Council, has welcomed the decision. Activists however issued a qualified welcome. They say that Rajnath Singh has only skimmed through the panel’s recommendations. Rajnath Singh has announced that the Delhi police would recruit 20 personnel from each of the eight Northeastern states. The panel had recommended recruitment of six hundred cops from the region. Singh is to be complimented however for announcing the formation of a panel of two male and five women lawyers to offer legal assistance to Northeastern victims. His focus seems to be on Delhi which is probably related to the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections.
