UNPRECEDENTED: The mysterious death of teenaged student Richard Loitam
invoked a sense of solidarity among the people of northeast who launched
a campaign in Bangalore to pressure the authorities for a thorough
investigation. File photo: Ananth Shreyas
It rakes up attitudes and discrimination in a supposedly liberal Bangalore
Investigation of the mysterious death of Manipuri student Richard Loitam
has taken an intriguing turn even as the police continue to probe into
the possibility of his death being caused by a road accident.
Based on the nature of wounds the 19-year-old sustained, which include
multiple injuries to his forehead, chest, face and thighs, an opinion
has emerged among forensic experts that the boy was beaten by more than
the two students. A case of murder has been registered but there have
been no arrests yet.
While experts are yet to establish the exact cause of the death, the
police and the college management agree that Loitam was attacked on the
night of his death.
Brawl or racism?
But ever since the teen's death made national headlines, activists and
journalists have agonised over one question — was it an attack on a
human being or a crime against humanity?
During the April 29 “Justice for Richard” protest in the city, there
were murmurs about racism and hate crime. But protest leaders were quick
to dissuade the agitators from making such claims.
“The brazenness of the attack has the classic symptoms of racism,”
argues Johnson Rajkumar, Associate Professor of Visual Communication,
St. Joseph's College, who also hails from Manipur.
Greater access
Asked how the alleged attackers (one from Jharkhand and the other from
West Bengal) could feel more empowered than a boy from Manipur, Mr.
Rajkumar says: “It is a question that people from mainland India have to
answer. It is well established that people from the mainland — Tamil,
Bengali, Hindi, or Punjabi — enjoy greater access to the social web than
those from the northeast. We are never made to feel part of the
pan-Indian nationalist discourse. Our textbooks have nothing to say on
the socio-political history of the northeast. Is this not racism?”
Outpouring of support
The outpouring of support for Loitam from people across the northeast
has its roots in the common experience of hostility and isolation that
these people face on a daily basis away from their homeland, says Mr.
Rajkumar. “The Richard Loitam case was just a trigger,” he adds.
Both Mr. Rajkumar and Chittibabu Padavala, a New Delhi-based Dalit
thinker, agree that cases such as Loitam's death should ideally evoke a
debate around the reasons for the epic migration of people from the
northeast. “They are running away from a life of violence where the
state plays the role of a facilitating agent,” alleges Mr. Rajkumar.
“They willingly occupy the fringes of society in the mainland because it
is still better than the situation back home. If they are not empowered
at home, they will always continue to be second-grade citizens in the
mainland,” he says.
Not-so-simple
Inspector-General of Police (State Intelligence) Gopal Hosur, however,
feels that the subtle game of inclusion and exclusion is an inescapable
reality. “To a north Indian I am a Madrasi. To a Tamil, I am a
Kannadiga. To a Kannadiga I am from north Karnataka. Who is to put an
end to bracketing?” he asks.
Conceding that the problem of people from the northeast is far more
complex, he says, “but the answer is not more policing.” Referring to an
experiment in New Delhi where the police tried to institute special
security steps for people from the northeast starting with maintaining a
record of their identity and address, Mr. Hosur says: “The move
triggered an outcry with people accusing the police of racial
profiling.”
More engagement
The solution, all three agree, lies in policies that will engage with
the northeast. “There needs to be a greater effort to promote social
interaction and introduce northeast studies in the curriculum,” says Mr.
Rajkumar.
“An ombudsman from States such as Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya in
Karnataka would help. This person can address grievances of the
community in addition to promoting socio-cultural interaction. The
police can play a limited role in this,” says Mr. Hosur.
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