A 32-year-old man was arrested on Sunday in connection with the “racist attack” on two Manipuri women a few days ago at Kotla Mubarakpur in South Delhi, even as protests continued against alleged police inaction in the ‘murder’ of Arunachal Pradesh student Nido Tania allegedly by shopkeepers in Lajpat Nagar.
On a day that saw protests in different parts of the city over the attacks on people from the Northeast, Congress president Sonia Gandhi wrote to party leader and father of the teenaged victim Nido Pavitra, describing such incidents as a “blot on society”. She said she was deeply saddened by the incident and expressed hope that the perpetrators get the strictest possible punishment under the ambit of law.
Tania’s family has alleged that he succumbed to injuries sustained during a racially-motivated attack.
While no arrests have been made in the Lajpat Nagar case, a 32-year-old resident of Kota Mubarakpur has been arrested in connection with the second case in which several male friends of the victims hailing from the Northeast were also allegedly beaten up.
The arrested person has been identified as Prem Chand and purportedly owned a dog whose leash got entangled with the shoe of one of the victims on January 24, leading to a verbal attack and later a physical assault.
The police said the three men detained for their suspected role in the death of Tania, son of Arunachal Pradesh Congress legislator, have during interrogation maintained that they had not attacked him a second time as is being alleged by the victim’s friends. They added that no evidence or any eye-witnesses of a second attack have come up so far.
A senior police officer, however, said the toxicology and viscera reports of the victim will provide more clues by establishing the exact cause of death and assist in recreating the chain of events leading to the death of the student.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party too demanded action against the accused during a rally organised outside Rajghat. Among those who attended the protest was Delhi party chief Vijay Goel.
A show of solidarity against the alleged discrimination was also visible during a candle-light vigil at Jantar Mantar that was attended by Northeast migrants living in the city. They demanded that the people in Delhi be sensitised about their “fellow countrymen” to prevent such attacks.
