PM positive to Loitam Richard's case
Source: The Sangai Express / Agencies
New Delhi, May 10 2012:
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has reportedly assured that maximum efforts would be put in to deliver justice in the case of Loitam Richard as well as measures to prevent incidences that led to the death of Richard and Dana Sangma.
The Prime Minister gave this assurance when representatives from the Justice for Richard and Manipur Students' Association, Delhi met him today evening.
During the interaction, the Prime Minister promised to recommend the MHA to expedite the cases, said a statement.
Dr Singh however denied racism in India and instutionalised discrimination against the peoples from the Northeast.
The delegation, led by by Dr Th Meinya also submitted a memorandum entitled Justice for Richard and Other Victims from the Northeast Region of India Vis-�-vis Racial Profiling and Discrimination in Other Parts of India, signed by 25,398 signatories across the world.
The memorandum demanded fast track initiatives to deliver justice to (a) Loitam Richard (19) from Manipur who was murdered on 17th April at Bangalore in Karnataka and (b) Dana Silva M Sangma (21) from Meghalaya who committed suicide on 24th April 2012 in Delhi due to the reported humiliation by exam invigilators.
The delegate demanded the Government of India to recognise multi-racial composition of India and the phenomenon of institutionalised racial discrimination as it exists distinctively amidst the myriads of socio-cultural discriminations prevalent in India.
The delegate expressed their concern over targeted violence and discrimination on the students, migrant workers (employees), job seekers, and tourists from the Northeast in other parts of India.
Dr Singh being aware of the tense situation admitted that there had been several instances of crimes against humanity and that the Government had been taking up measures to control it.
He assured maximum efforts to deliver justice and measures to prevent such incidences from recurring.
He appealed the members of the Justice for Richard to have faith in the initiatives taken up by the Government.
In the afternoon representatives of JFR, MSAD, and Change.org submitted copies of memorandum respectively to the Chief Ministers of Karnataka and Manipur through the officials concerned attached to Karnataka Bhavan and Manipur Bhavan.
The delegate further submitted a copy of the memorandum to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Additional Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs Ms B Bhamathi.
She instructed her office to contact the Karnataka Government to enquire about the report and to recommend for fast tract proceeding towards delivering justice to the family of Richard.
Although she could not promise a deadline, she called upon victims of social discrimination to come up with specific suggestions to be observed by the law enforcing agencies.