New Delhi: The National Students’ Union of India held a candle march at Jantar Mantar Tuesday, demanding justice for Anjel Chakma and accusing the BJP-RSS of fostering an atmosphere of hate that led to his death, a statement said.
Led by NSUI national president Varun Choudhary, protesters said Chakma, a student from the Northeast, was brutally assaulted in Dehradun after allegedly being racially abused and called Chinese.
They accused the BJP-led Uttarakhand government of delayed action, allowing the accused to remain free for days before registering an FIR.
Addressing the gathering, Choudhary said, Anjel Chakma was killed by hate, and justice was killed by the BJP government’s silence. Sitting on a brutal assault for 20 days is not governance, it is complicity.
Indian Youth Congress (IYC) national president Uday Bhanu Chib reiterated the charge, claiming I am an Indian; I am not Chinese were Anjel’s last words.
Today, the BJP-RSS are spreading the poison of hatred in the country. Criminals are being protected, and justice is being suppressed, he said.
Chib demanded the immediate arrest of the absconding accused, an inquiry into the delay in filing the FIR and the harshest punishment for those responsible, warning that political protection of hate crimes was corroding India’s constitutional values.
According to officials, Tripura student Anjel Chakma and his brother, Michael, got into an argument December 9 in Dehradun with some local men and another man from the northeast, who allegedly used racial slurs.
When the brothers objected, a fight broke out between them, during which it is reported that they were attacked with knives and other blunt objects.
The Dehradun police Tuesday said the probe into the case has so far found no evidence of racial abuse.