Major incidents of racial violence against people from the Northeast in 2014 residing here sparked major debates on issues like safety and discrimination.
Following the Nido Tania case in particular, which took place in the beginning of the year, the Delhi Police launched a series of initiatives to tackle such episodes.
Nido, the teenaged son of an Arunachal Pradesh MLA, died following an assault by a group of men, who also made fun of his hair, it was alleged. His friends had also questioned the role of the police, and massive protests followed his death.
The incident, which took place months before the Lok Sabha election, had a ripple effect in the eight Northeast States as well as other areas where people from the region migrated to.
It prompted the police to introduce measures like setting up a special unit for people from the Northeast, starting a helpline — 1093, and making available a dedicated mobile number to send complaints via WhatsApp.
But such incidents continued to be reported. In May, lawyers at Tis Hazari court allegedly misbehaved with a female lawyer and several others from the North-East accompanying a molestation victim from Nagaland.
In July, Akha Salouni, a young Manipuri man, was found dead in Kotla Mubarakpur. Following his murder, the Delhi High Court observed that in spite of issuance of directions from time-to-time, such incidents, rather than abating, were still taking place.
Towards the end of the year, the Delhi Police Commissioner wrote to the Director Generals of Police in the North-East to recruit and send personnel from their States.
