Northeast delegation wants judicial enquiry into Tania death

A delegation of northeastern people in Delhi Tuesday urged Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde to order a judicial enquiry into the death of a youth from Arunachal Pradesh.

"They want the enquiry to be set up immediately, and the home minister has said the investigation will start by tomorrow," Arunachal Minister of State for Minority Affairs Ninong Ering said.

The minister spoke to a news channel after leading the delegation.

A memorandum given to Shinde demanded a law against racism. "I think the home minster has agreed to that. We also felt that this case is racial in nature," said Ering.

Activist Binalakshmi Nepram, who accompanied the students, said the discrimination against people from the northeast was not limited to Delhi. Most members of the delegation were students.

It was important to start a process for the formation of a law that "ends racial discrimination", she said.

The meeting followed the death last week of Arunachal Pradesh student Nido Tania after he was beaten up by shopkeepers in a south Delhi market. The victim's friends say it was a racial attack.

"It's not only about Nido's case, Delhi Police has time and again failed in their responsibilities," Nepram said outside parliament house.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Monday met a group of northeastern students protesting here and assured them that he would do all that was possible to improve the situation.

Nepram said they would not allow political parties to hijack their agitation.

Three people have been arrested for Tania's death.