Justice for Loitam Richard : Let's not forget others too
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: April 30, 2012 -
Justice for Loitam Richard : Demonstration at Delhi :: 29 April 2012
Chingthou Keicha from the desk
It was indeed a very shocking incident for the people of the state that Loitam Richard was alleged ly murder by his hostel-mates on the night of April 17 over a tiff for switching TV channel while watching an IPL match.
Reports coming from different sources suggest that Richard, a 19 years old first year Architectural Engineering student in Archarya NRV School of Architecture, Bangalore was killed after smashing his head against the steel window frame of his hostel room on that fateful night.
Preliminary post mortem report also stated that both sides of his head had severe injuries and the cause of death was due to heavy loss of blood. Moreover, there were wounds on his face at several areas and other injuries on his arms and thighs which clearly showed that he was beaten up or torture severely before leaving him to his hostel room.
Unfortunately, hostel authorities have been trying to cover up the whole incident by simply stating that Richard was a drug user and they were not aware of any fights in the hostel until the death of Richard till 1.30 pm of the following day. They are also trying to link up the death with a minor road accident which occurred some days back.
In the light of such cover up stories, people from all walks of life who heard about the incident and friends of Richard who have known him for many years have cry foul and raised the demand for justice. Every right thinking people should condemn such brutal acts of snuffing out the live of a promising youth.
While deploring murder of Loitam Richard and crying for justice, we also should not overlook other incidents of crimes against NE people happening in other major cities of the country.
It was on the same day when Dana Sangma, an MBA student at Amity University from Meghalaya committed suicide after she was allegedly humiliated by the invigilator in an examination.
In amidst of rising voice against the killing of Richard, a Tangkhul girl was molested, another Tangkhul boy was abducted and looted while a Meetei boy was beaten black and blue after looting his belongings in Delhi, all on the night of April 27.
The Tangkhul girl, who works in a private company at Gurgaon was molested by two persons. Some other Tangkhul boys who came to her rescue were also beaten up by local youths after the two molesters' raises false alarm.
On the other hand, another Tangkhul boy identified as Thuirei Joshua Muivah of Muirei Village, Ukhrul was abducted by unknown persons and later abandoned him near a bus stand at Anand Vihar after looting and beating him. On the same night, another Meetei boy was beaten up and looted of his belongings at Mukherjee Nagar near Delhi University.
All these incidents of racial abuse by people in mainland India have indeed instilled a sense of alienation among the people of North East region in their own country.
We, as people of the region, should also take note of these incidents and raised our voice in unison. The murder of Richard may be more gruesome, but we should also pay attention to the other incidents of racial discrimination and crimes against NE people and say enough is enough.
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