Did Delhi Police kill Nido Taniem

Did Delhi Police kill Nido Taniem
 

 It's more than 72 hours now since the young student from Arunachal Pradesh, Nido Taniem was assaulted to death by an alleged group of local goons at a marketplace in Lajpat Area of New Delhi, but there is yet to be any significant achievement in bringing justice to the deceased boy.

Even as Delhi police have identified several suspects on the case and even detained five of them so far including two shopkeepers, protestors across the country are demanding for a fast track trial of the accused, claiming their act of blatant intolerance and racial discrimination as barbaric and ignominious.
But, amidst all the furore, vigil marches and outcry for justice for Nido, the big question remains if the death of the 19-year-old BSc first year student from Lovely Professional University (Jalandhar) could have been averted had the staff at the Lajpat Nagar police station seriously dealt with the incident of hate crime on the student immediately?

#Taniam lost his life on Thursday evening after he succumbed to the injuries sustained during a clash with a group of men at a sweet shop, Rajasthan Paneer Bhandar, in Lajpat Nagar Part-I. The men apparently hit him when he protested the taunts made on his hairstyle on Wednesday afternoon.



According to Taniam's family, Nido and his three friends alongwith the goons were taken to the police station following a PCR call, where the policemen insisted on an amicable compromise. What more, they apparently forced Taniam to shell out Rs10,000 to the two shopkeepers as compensation for allegedly damaging a glass at their sweet shop.

"After resolving the matter and making Taniam pay Rs10,000 to the shopkeepers, the police asked both the groups to leave. But when Taniam and his friends were going back to his sister’s house in Green Park, the other group stopped them in a lane in Lajpat Nagar and again thrashed him," said Taniam’s friend who wished not to be named.



Taniam and his friends again went to the police station and the other group was also called there. The police asked Taniam to make a compromise again.

Police, however, said Taniam himself refused to file any complaint against the suspects. "We have detained two shopkeepers, Farhan and Akram. A case of murder has already been registered," a senior officer said.

Meanwhile, the final autopsy report of Nido Taniem's postmortem report is awaited. Initial observation however reveals finds abrasion on head, face and neck, minor internal bleeding in neck and swelling of brain, which is usually a result of violent shaking of brain ( in this case punching & stick beating in head) which automatically leads to edema (water) in lungs, which caused blockage of respiratory system and imminent death thereof. This confirms death caused by violent beating.



In a separate case, the Delhi police has detained one person Prem, allegedly involved in harassing, abusing and molestation of two Manipuri women in Kotla Mubarakpur area.

The incident took place on January 25 when some men allegedly passed racist comments at - Tharmila Jajo and Chonmila. They weren't just beaten up, but also humiliated, when the men allegedly tied a dog’s chain to Chonmila’s boots.

AW: Suchorita Choudhury

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Will North-East Students Ever Be Treated Like Indians

Will North-East Students Ever Be Treated Like Indians?

Even as the national capital is trying to grapple with bigger issues of politics and power, the death of the 20-year old student from Arunachal Pradesh, Nido Taniam, turns the arclights on a question that rarely raises its head in our country - racial profiling and discrimination of people from North-East India.
Nido Taniam, who was brutally thrashed by locals in Delhi's Lajpat Nagar on 29 January died in a Delhi hospital on 31 January, following an altercation with a shopkeeper and a gang of goons over something as trivial as color of his hair, shows how rampant the discrimination is in the state.

Taniam was cruelly hit with sticks and rods following the spat. After the altercation took place, the police arrived at the spot and lifted the victim up. Strangely enough, the victim was dropped back at the same spot where he was then beaten up by locals. He was taken to the hospital by his friends and family and died there a day later.

Taniam was the son of Arunachal Pradesh Nido Pavitra, parliamentary secretary for health and family welfare, food and civil supplies.



Expressing deep anger over the incident, Arunachal Pradesh MP Takam Sanjoy said, "Taniam was a very cool, nice and calm guy. There was an altercation but it soon turned racial. This is a completely racial attack on the student because of his Mongoloid features. This is a serious phenomenon in mainstream India."

"How can a country accommodate so much intolerance because of how someone looks? This amounts to alienating people from your country. There are already so many problems in the North East already because of these differences. Why are these elements given room in the society?,” he fumed.
Also, expressing his annoyance over unwillingness of the Delhi Police to register an FIR against the case, the MP said, "My colleague in Parliament, Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs, Ninong Ering had to go the Lajpat Nagar police station regarding the FIR. The death of the student occurred a day after. There were not much external injuries but there have to be internal injuries as he was hit with rods and sticks. He passed away a day after he was brutally beaten up."

The case of death of Taniam, a resident of Green Park area of Delhi, was registered in Lajpat Nagar police station, but they are now trying to push the case to Green Park. "Why is either of the police stations having a problem in registering an FIR. This is murder and they will have to apply the same laws that they would have in case of anyone else. If the government, police and administration thinks that the Indian Constitution is for a section of India, we will have to go out like Arvind Kejriwal to the streets for our rights," Sanjoy said.

"This is the manifestation of the flawed policies that the policy makers has come up with for the 45 million Indians who live in the North East. There is still a huge policy challenge in this regard. The entire conscious of the North East is absent form the larger conscious of India," secretary general of Control Arms Foundation of India, Binalakshmi Nepram told CNN-IBN during a panel discussion.
Although there are sharp reactions and massive condemnation of the incident, a section of the country still refuses to accept it as a racial one. "This was a freak incident. This was not racial as such. People often tend to look differently at us because of our looks, habits and lifestyles. There are legal provisions to stop slurs against people from North East but the mindset of the people have to change first. We have to educate our people," Minister of State for Minority Affairs, Ninong Ering told CNN-IBN during the discussion.

Concluding whether Taniam's death was a result of a racist attack or just a freak accident isn't going to be an easy one. Nevertheless, his death only heightens apprehensions of people from the north east about the acceptance in the country.



Meanwhile, the Arvind Kejriwal government has condemned the act and issued a statement chastising the Delhi police saying it will not support any form of discrimination. In a statement issued to the press, the Delhi government says, "The government contemplating a magisterial inquiry into this death, which is not only tragic but raises serious questions on the alleged beating reportedly in public view."
It adds that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has directed education minister Manish Sisodia to look into the matter and report back to him. "Delhi government makes it clear that it will adopt a zero tolerance policy towards such unacceptable incidents and appeals to people to maintain calm at all costs," the release says.

AW: Suchorita Choudhury

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Arvind Kejriwal demands accountability from Delhi Police

Arvind Kejriwal demands accountability from Delhi Police

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has stepped up pressure against the Delhi Police to take action against the five policemen for not performing their duty. On the second day of protest, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief threatened to flood Rajpath, the Republic Day celebrations venue, with his supporters.
AAP is demanding the suspension of five cops who failed to conduct raid on a building that was allegedly a drug and prostitution ring. The Delhi chief minister refused to scale down the protest stating that safety of women cannot be negotiated in the capital.

Kejriwal wants Delhi Police to be brought under the Delhi government, which is currently under the central government that controls it through the home ministry.

Last week Somnath Bharti, Delhi's law minister, had tried to “uncover a sex and drug racket” through a fake customer at a building in Khirki Extension, in south Delhi. Bharti asked the police personnels accompanying him to conduct a raid on the building, which they refused citing lack of search warrant and police back-up.

Rakhi Birla, Delhi's women and child development minister, also faced hurdles with a non-cooperative police in Sagarpur. There the police personnels allegedly refused to take into custody the in-laws of a woman with 45% burns and who has been hospitalised.

The Delhi government has a police force, which it cannot direct to protect the life and interest of the people of the national capital. It has been given a responsibility but the police, which has to maintain law and order, is not accountable to the chief minister, who has to protect the interest of its citizens. In such a scenario, the accountability of the police force is takes a beating.

Over the last two decades, several Chief Ministers of Delhi including Sheila Dikshit have felt helpless and appealed to MHA that police should be brought under the control of the state government.
The main reason for not bringing Delhi police force under the state government is due to security concerns related to Central government functionaries and institutions that are largely located in New Delhi district. This concern can be taken care of with a Presidential notification allowing the Union government to retain control while delegating its powers. Delhi Police can be made responsible to the Delhi government over three major functions of public order, crime and investigation. For rest of the functions, police can be under the control of MHA.

Police excesses or negligence has brutalized the life of the common man. The police force has been created with the intension of protecting the lives of the common man. But it seems that only the well-heeled ones in India enjoy the protection of police force.
Kejriwal and his ministers, out to clean the police force, are being asked to tone down the protest. The AAP supporters are allegedly harassing his supporters outside the Rail Bhawan, the protest venue. Had the UPA government used only a small part of the police force to prevent prostitution, drug dealers-police connivance, the situation would not have required the Delhi chief minister to camp on the street protesting for the cause of the common man.

How is it that cases of rape raises its ugly head time and again? Why can't the police solve the cases speedily. Why was the Mumbai police not able to rescue Esther Anuhya who was abducted and kept captive at a brothel in Kamatipura for five days before her brutal death. How could the Danish women be gang raped for three hours at the heart of Delhi when there are reportedly many police patrol vans roaming the streets of the national capital. Isn't it dereliction of duty? Or are the police personnels paid a salary only to protect the politicians and the wealthy people of this country.

(AW: Pratima Tigga)

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