Northeast students to rally against rising crimes

Students here from the northeast are planning to hold a massive rally in the capital Friday to protest the rising number of crimes against the community A sensitization drive on the issue is also on the agenda a Naga student union member saidThe latest episode in this rising trend of crime against the northeastern community in the capital was the gruesome murder of a Naga girl by a PhD scholar of the Indian Institute of Technology IITDelhi Oct 24 Luikang president of the Naga Students Union in Delhi said We had a meeting with other northeast students unions yesterday and have decided to hold a protest tomorrow at Jantar Mantar to bring to the forefront that the northeastern community is constantly being targeted in the national capital and the government needs to do something about it Every second day we get to hear of a northeastern girl getting molested somewhere or a northeastern student getting harassed This bias against the community must be stopped We are therefore also planning a sensitization drive on this issue Luikang told IANS He further said that members of the Naga Students Union have been invited by the Deputy Commissioner of Police DCP south Delhi for a meeting Thursday The meeting will be on the security concerns of the northeast community in the capital Luikang said Earlier the Delhi police had said that they had issued a circular to take the most stringent action in order to check crimes against the northeastern community in the city Most northeastern students were however sceptical of the efficacy of the circular According to figures available with the Northeast Support Centre and Helpline in Delhi around 100 cases of physical and verbal abuse molestation rape and beating of boys and girls of the region were reported in Delhi in 2006 and 2007 Madhu Chandra who heads the centre said Until May this year the centre had received 12 complaints of harassment rape physical and verbal abuse of northeastern people in Delhi On Oct 18 two men reportedly tried to pull a northeastern woman into their car when she was on her way home in south Delhi On Oct 24 Pushpam Sinha an IITian who is said to be suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder strangled his 19yearold neighbour Ramchanphy Hongray in her Munirka home in south Delhi He then burnt the girls face to mislead the police Alarmed about the incidents Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath said Wednesday that her ministry would formulate a plan to check such crimes against northeastern women in the city Luikang said Our main demand through the protest is that the most stringent punishment must be awarded to the IITian who was held for murder of the Naga girl last week Also all pending crime cases against the community must be immediately focussed upon by the police so as to act as a deterrent for others According to him more than 500 people are expected to join the protest Friday which will include students from Delhi University Jawaharlal Nehru University and others We just want better protection Is that too much to ask for in the national capital Luikang asked u00a0u00a0