After condemning the brutal murder, some local Naga leaders failed to understand how he could stoop so low as to strangle the teenage girl from Ukhrul District of Manipur and then set her ablaze in the kitchen.

It is stated that she had resisted his advances and Sinha had taken advantage of the absence of her sister and brother and tried to molest her in their flat. He was afraid that she might inform the police about his misdemeanor and so he strangled her for three minutes until she succumbed. To make the ghastly murder look like an accidental death, he put her face on the gas stove and lit it.  

Taking serious note of the incident, the Naga Students’ Union of Delhi (NSUD) is of the view that more security measures should be taken for the Northeastern people, especially girls and women, who are very often subject to molestation  in the national capital. The Delhi Police should recruit people from the North East and post them as Sub- Inspectors or constables for each of the police stations. It is a fact that the students and others from the North East face a lot of communication problems in Delhi due to their peculiar way of pronunciation although they very often speak correct English. Most of them are unable to express themselves in Hindi while dealing with their landlords, shopkeepers, and rickshaw pullers, three wheeler and taxi drivers who very often cheat them. Knowledge about Hindi is essential to communicate with the common people for their daily necessities. It is better that they are given some lessons in the language before they depart for the metros.

“It is not uncommon that simple remarks and jokes are often misinterpreted by North East people due to the lack of knowledge about Hindi,” says a senior teacher in the Delhi University.

Lan Sin Glu of the North East Support Helpline says on an average there are two to three cases relating to eve teasing and molestation faced by North East girls in the national capital and its neighborhood.” We can not stop this but try to make the legal process hassle free.” The NSUD also called for a special Cell for North East girls in the Delhi Police on the lines of the Women Cell and Rape Crisis cell. In Munirka and Delhi University’s North Campus, which are densely populated by North East students, the local policing should be more effective, NSUD says.

Meanwhile, two class XI students have been arrested by the Delhi Police for allegedly molesting a student from Arunachal Pradesh who studies in Jamia Milia Islamia University. She was molested by some boys in the premises of Chandrasekhar Government Boys’ High School in New Friends’ Colony.

It is stated that the girl was proceeding to Jamia in a rickshaw when some students made lewd comments at her. She had entered the school campus to complain about it. But she was surrounded by more students and some of them had allegedly molested her.

However, the Vice Chancellor of the Central University has taken a serious note of the incident and asked the police to take appropriate action against the culprits.

Miss Lemyao Shimrey says if prompt and deterrent action is taken against culprits, such heinous acts can be curbed to a large extent. In Delhi, people have misconceptions about the Northeasterners, particularly the girls from the North East. The Government should allay these. She seems to be cent per cent correct. But what can not be overlooked is that the North East people should be more communicative with their neighbours and colleagues to convince them that the girls from  the North East have brains and beauty but they must not be considered as playthings.

P. K. Chakravarty