JNU students condemn "murder" of Angel Chakma

IMPHAL, Dec 29: Meitei Students JNU has strongly condemned alleged apathy of the Uttarakhand Government and the inaction of the police in the case of Angel Chakma, who was brutally murdered in Dehradun.
The Meitei Students JNU, in a statement, said the incident was a racially charged murder.
The 24-year-old MBA final-year student from North Tripura was racially abused by a group of six persons before being brutally attacked with knives and blunt objects on December 9. Chakma succumbed to serious injuries after fighting for his life for 17 days on December 26.
The student body noted that Angel’s father, Tarun Chakma, who is a BSF jawan, has alleged that the Uttarakhand police refused to file a report regarding the case.
An FIR was filed only after the student union of the Chakma community pressured the department to do so, it added.
Despite the gravity of the situation, the police deliberately failed to perform their rightful duties, exposing a deep-seated callousness and arbitrary nature of the department, it said.
Such racially charged, violent and discriminatory acts that target the North East communities based on their physical appearances and identities have increasingly become a norm rather than exceptional cases in various parts of this country outside the North East, it said.
The North Eastern community, particularly the youths, have long been subjected to racial discrimination, abuse and in many cases, killed. Women from the region are particularly vulnerable to acts of violence and sexual harassment, it added.
Condemning the incident, the student body called for an immediate and serious investigation into the case, and demanded stringent punishment of the culprits and justice for the victim.