The Supreme Court recently criticized  the Centre for “taking things lightly” when it comes to the continued racial discrimination faced by people from the North East. The Court said that this kind of  bias is  against constitutional equality and needs  urgent action from the government to ensure protection, awareness, and accountability across the country.

Centre Failed Its Duty:

A bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice  K Vinod Chandran also pointed out that the Centre has failed in its duty. They noted that the government did not hold the court-directed monitoring committee meetings every three months, which were meant to address the issues faced by people from the North East.

Case Background:

The Supreme Court was hearing a petition  about the welfare of people from the North East living across India. In its February 17 order, the Court had directed  a monitoring committee to meet every three months to deal with racial discrimination.

On April 8, the Court noted that the committee did meet on March 15, but the meeting record did not mention  when the next meeting would be scheduled.

Strong Words from Court:

The bench said:

“We are not going to close this. Despite us keeping this matter pending, you (Centre) were taking things very lightly…. There is no doubt about it. After 15 December, you didn’t hold a meeting till we asked you to hold one. You Union were supposed to hold it every three months.”

The Court also said there is a need for more sensitivity towards the discrimination faced by people from the North East.

Justice Sanjay Kumar said that : 

"A video is currently doing the rounds on WhatsApp. I was in Manipur and have many friends there... The song in the video says, call us Nepali, call us 'chinkis', but we are still Indians."

Who Attended the Meeting?

The judges also raised concerns about who attended the meeting.

“Look at the people who attended the meeting. In our order, we had also referred to Ms. Neha Dhiman, Under Secretary, Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region. This lady has not even attended the meeting,” the Court said.

Court Not Satisfied:

The government’s lawyer said a Director had attended the meeting, but the judges were not satisfied. They stressed that since the committee is meant to look after the welfare of people from the North East, officials directly connected with the region should have been present.

The Court adjourned the case to give the committee time to act on the points discussed in the  March 15 meeting, and fixed  July 15 as the next date for hearing.

Case Details : Alana Golmei v. Union of India