ITANAGAR, 23 Feb: The National People’s Youth Front (NPYF), the youth wing of the National People’s Party, urged the Delhi Police to take immediate and strict action against those involved in the recent incident of racial and sexual abuse of three young women from Arunachal Pradesh in South Delhi’s Malviya Nagar.
In a letter to the joint commissioner of police of the Special Police Unit for North Eastern Region-Delhi Police, the NPYF stated that incidents of such nature must be dealt with firmly to prevent recurrence of such incidents and to reinforce confidence among members of the Northeast community.
“Such reprehensible acts not only endanger the safety and dignity of our citizens but also deeply hurt the sentiments of the entire Northeast community of India,” the NPYF said, condemning the incident in the strongest terms.
According to the Delhi Police, the NPYF said, an FIR has been registered at the Malviya Nagar police station against a couple – Harsh Singh and his wife Ruby Jain – under Sections 79, 351(2), 3(5) and 196 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to insulting the modesty of a woman, criminal intimidation, common intention, and promoting enmity on grounds including race and place of residence.
As per the Delhi Police statement and legal experts, the NPYF said, the FIR sections under BNS presently invoked are broadly equivalent to earlier IPC provisions 509 (word/gesture to insult the modesty of a woman), 506 (criminal intimidation), 153A (promoting enmity on grounds of race, residence, language, etc) read with 34 (common intention).
The NPYF urged the Delhi Police to conduct a swift, impartial and timebound investigation into the case, and to ensure that all relevant provisions of law, including those relating to sexual harassment (BNS Section 75/IPC 354A), are carefully examined and added where the evidence supports it, and ensure that the case is not diluted as media attention fades.
It urged the Delhi Police and the Special Police Unit for North Eastern Region to provide immediate and visible protection to the complainants, including from any retaliatory pressure such as threats, attempts to forcibly evict them, or social boycott within the locality.
“The women must not be forced to choose between safety and staying in their home,” the NPYF said.
The NPYF further appealed to the government of Delhi, the ministry of home affairs, the National Commission for Women and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes to monitor the case, issue clear directions against racial profiling of Northeastern citizens, and strengthen protocols for handling complaints of racism, sexual harassment and criminal intimidation against students and workers from the Northeast in major cities.
The NPYF also urged the wider public, especially the youths of Delhi, to reject casual racism and sexism in daily life.
“Housing brokers, resident welfare associations and landlords must ensure that Northeastern tenants are treated fairly, not threatened with eviction the moment they assert their rights,” the NPYF said.
It stated that every woman, and every Northeastern citizen, has the right to live, study and work with dignity and safety under the Constitution of India.
It said that the incident is not just an abuse against three individual women but an insult to the entire Northeast community.
“An attack on one of us, anywhere in the country, is an attack on all of us. We stand with the three Arunachal women of Malviya Nagar, and with every Northeastern student and worker who has ever been made to feel lesser for how they look, what they eat, or where they come from,” it said.
“We must stand together and support one another. Silence only gives abusers more power,” the NPYF added.
