Crime Against People From Northeast India Rises Steadily: Police Data

New Delhi, Nov 24 :  Crime against people from North-East in the national capital has witnessed a steady rise with Delhi Police receiving 650 calls related to crime this year.

According to data compiled by Delhi police, till November 15 this year, it has received a total 847 calls out of which 645 calls were related to crime.

Police converted 139 of these into FIRs. The number of FIRs stood only at 74 from the people of this region last year.

The highest complaints numbering 259 were received from South Delhi district followed by South East which stood at 53.

The lowest number of calls, six, were received from North East Delhi district. The number of complaints received from other districts were, North West - 44, South West - 40, North - 35, West - 32, East -19, Central - 15, New Delhi - 15, Outer - 10, Crime & Railway - 8 and Out of Delhi - 8.

When it comes to police station wise data Vasant Vihar got the most 58 calls followed by Safdarjung Enclave - 48, Kotla Mubarakpur - 23, Malviya Nagar - 21, and Mukherji Nagar - 20.

These are all areas with considerable population from the North-East. There were 159 cases related to quarrel which topped the list. 56 cases of eve teasing were reported while there were 22 cases of cyber crime/racial discrimination through social media etc.

13 cases were of molestation while six cases of rape and four cases of attempt to rape were also reported. Last week, three youths from the Northeast were found dead within 48 hours in the city.

A 32-year-old PhD scholar from Manipur was found murdered with his neck slashed at his home in south Delhi’s Kotla Mubarakpur area on Wednesday night. The deceased was identified as Keashung Zingram Kengo who had completed his Ph. D from Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

In another incident reported from Malviya Nagar area, a Manipuri student was found dead under mysterious circumstances at his residence on Thursday morning. The same night, another youth from North-East had died after he apparently fell from the staircase at his home in Munirka area in south Delhi.

He was in an inebriated condition when the incident took place.

Attack on Northeast People Out Of Information Gap: Assamese Filmmaker

Journalist-turned-filmmaker Utpal Borpujari feels violence against people of north east in some parts of the country is due to "information gap" and "misconceptions" even as he expressed the need to make conscious efforts to bridge this deficit.

Borpujari's documentary on Naga folk, 'Songs of the Blue Hills' is critically acclaimed in the Indian Panorama section at ongoing International Film Festival of India (IFFI) here. "There is a huge gap of information regarding North East.

We have often seen using words like mainstream India for the states which are not from North East. There is lot of misconception about the North Eastern states," Borpujari told PTI. Terming the attacks on the people of north east as "unfortunate", Borpujari underlined the need to bridge the information gap by making conscious efforts pan-India.

"In fact, there should be conscious efforts like including information about the North East in school curriculum," the 46-year-old filmmaker said.

'Songs of the Blue Hills' is produced by Delhi-based Centre for Cultural Resource and Training (CCRT), which has also started a special initiative to educate people about the north eastern culture.

Borpujari, whose earlier documentary 'Mayong: Myth/Reality' had made waves, said that movies based on the north east can help a lot in providing knowledge about this part of the country and dispelling stereotypes. He candidly said that his journey towards shooting 'Songs of the Blue Hills' started in oblivion.

"When I conceptualised the subject, I knew very little about the Naga folk music. When I went to Nagaland it was a journey to discover myself. I realised that a large number of people from Nagaland are pursuing music," he said.

Borpujari said he stumbled upon the fact that Nagaland is the only state in the country where government has formed a task force to ensure that people take music as a profession only during making of the documentary.

Longest Railway Tunnel in Manipur

By Sobhapati Samom

Imphal, Nov 24 : The Tupul-Imphal Railway tunnel in the on-going Manipur railway project (Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal) could be the longest railway tunnel in the country, according to a spokesperson of the Northeast Frontier Railway (Construction Organisation), Guwahati.

“But it could be confirmed whether the tunnel would be the longest in the country only when the construction work is completed,” the spokesperson said over phone.

The Tupul-Imphal Railway tunnel (tunnel number 12) is presently projected as the longest tunnel (10.75 km) amongst 46 tunnels which will cover a total distance of 54.5 km on the 111 km-long new railway line in the State, according to reports.

The 11.2 km long Pir Panjal Railway tunnel which passes through the Pir Panjal Range of middle Himalayas in Jammu and Kashmir which is a part of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project, is India’s longest railway tunnel. The tunnel has reduced the distance between Quazigund and Banihal. Till November 20 this year, as many as nine tunnels have been completed along Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal rail project covering more than 11 km in the new railway line, NF Railway sources added.

Interestingly, out of proposed 148 bridges including four tall, five major and 139 minor bridges, the proposed railway bridge (number 164) near the proposed Noney station along the railway line would be the tallest girder rail bridge in the world with a height of 141 metres.

The anticipated cost of the bridge which is expected to consume 5.1 lakh cement bags (2,55,000 quintals), 75,000 quintals of structural steel, 60,000 quintals of reinforced steel and 22,000 mild steel plates, is Rs 280 crore. At present, the tallest railway bridge is 139 metres high Malarijeka Viaduct in Montenegro in Europe. Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal railway line which is estimated to cost Rs 5,996 crores, is targeted to be completed by 2018 while the 84 km Jiribam-Tupul sector is projected for completion by mid-2016.

Thousands Rally Against Jihadis, 'Bangladeshi Infiltrators' in Assam

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All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) has demonstrated across Assam against the presence of jihadi forces and alleged Bangladeshi infiltrators.

With huge rallies in several parts of the northeastern Indian state, AASU has yet again questioned the policies of the state and central governments on the issue.

The matter of Bangladeshi infiltration has flared up in the state after the activities of the Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in Assam came to light.

While the government is being criticised for its failure to detect and prevent militant activities, a strong demand is being made for the complete sealing of the India-Bangladesh border.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Sunday tweeted that his government had succeeded in containing all forms of terrorism following a slew of security measures.

“We will also deal very firmly with jihadi groups and foil their sinister designs to set up base in Assam. The security measures have been put in place to ensure that the wheels of development move on,” he said.

At a huge students’ rally on the Latasil ground near the Guwahati High Court, AASU adviser Samujjal Bhattachajya said on Saturday: “Had each and every clause of the Assam Accord been implemented by the state and central governments, the Burdwan blast that rocked (West) Bengal on Oct 2 would not have happened.”

The Assam Accord, signed by the central government, Assam government, AASU, and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP) had fixed Mar 25, 1972 as the cut-off date for detecting and deporting Bangladeshi infiltrators from the state.

The porous India-Bangladesh border in Assam has let illegal migrants and fundamentalist forces from Bangladesh cross over, AASU claims.

Bhattacharya said if India had to be saved, Assam had to be protected first.

He alleged that the Union and state governments woke up to the jihadi threat in Assam and Bengal only after the Burdwan blast.

AASU began fresh agitation after the arrest of six JMB militants in Assam’s Barpeta district.
The protesters alleged that the soft-pedalling of the issue by the Tarun Gogoi government had encouraged infiltration and the growth of jihadi groups in Assam.

However, AASU has strongly appealed to the people not to communalise the agitation against jihadis and illegal migrants.

Recently, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind organised an anti-terrorism convention where it appealed to the investigating agencies and ordinary people not to brand madarsas as “terror hubs”.

AASU, for its part, has threatened to continue its agitation until the government uprooted fundamentalist forces like the JMB and al-Qaeda. Local Muslims, too, have joined the AASU agitation.

Meanwhile, Sujina Begum, wife of Shahanur Alam, the Burdwan blast accused and most wanted suspected JMB member, has been sent to 14 days’ judicial custody after a spell of long interrogation.
Sujina, who is accused of working for the JMB women’s wing in Assam and West Bengal, was arrested in Guwahati on Nov 6 by a special unit of Assam police.

Meanwhile, security forces were conducting widespread search operations to locate Alam.

Assam Blind School Student Allegedly Beaten Up, Forced To Drink Urine, Almost Strangulated to Death By Roommates

By Samudra Gupta Kashyap

Guwahati, Nov 24 : A 14-year-old student of a reputed residential blind school in Assam has been forced to quit following alleged torture including forcibly made to drink his own urine. With this incident coming to light two months after it allegedly occurred, state chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Sunday directed institution of magisterial inquiry into it.

The incident allegedly happened on September 26 in the Sreemanta Sankar Mission Barhampur Blind School in Nagaon district in central Assam, with Deba Tati (14) saying six of his roommates accused him of passing urine in the room, following which they beat him up, forced urine into his mouth and then tried to even strangulate him with a bedsheet.

“Six boys first accused me of urinating inside the hostel room, and then beat me, after which they even forced me to drink urine. They also tore my bedsheet and said they will tie a noose around my neck,” Deba Tati told The Indian Express over the telephone from his residence in Tezpur. Barhampur is about about 65 kms from Tezpur, and the blind school – the oldest in the entire Northeast – run by Sreemanta Sankar Mission was set up in 1955.

He said he screamed for help, but nobody came to his rescue. “Luckily, I resisted the noose and managed to save myself. They however continued to threaten me for the next two days and said even the media cannot come to save me,” Deba said. A lady caretaker who looks after the boys’ hostel does not stay in the hostel at night.

While the incident allegedly happened on September 26, Deba left for home two days later when his mother Hema Tati went to bring him home for the Durga puja holidays that began on September 28. “It was only after reaching home that he told us everything and said he won’t go back to school again,” his mother said. The co-educational blind school has about 60 students from Class I to X, with boys and girls lodged in two separate hostels.

Deba’s parents, father Bhairab Tati and mother Hema Tati, are both daily-wage labourers. While Deba had lost his eyesight after a chicken pox infection immediately after birth, his eldest sister Bani got married after dropping out from Class V. His younger sister Pompi, a Class IX drop-out also works as a daily-wage labourer.

The entire episode came to light only on Friday when the family got a telephone call from a teacher of the school asking Deba to return because the annual examination was drawing near. “The family approached me and insisted that I accompany them to drop the boy in the school. When I enquired why, they told me the whole story.

“When I further inquired why they had not revealed this for so long, they said they were not sure what exactly to do,” said Tuntun Borah, a neighbour and an anganwadi worker who finally informed the media about it.

“We came to know about the incident only through the television news yesterday evening,” said Kamakhya Prasad Sarma, secretary of the Sreemanta Sankar Mission, a Nagaon-based organization that had pioneered education for the blind way back in 1950.

“On rushing to the school (which is about 10 kms from Nagaon), one of the teachers admitted to the incident, but could not explain why the matter was not reported to us,” Sarma told The Indian Express from Nagaon today.

A three-member delegation of the Mission led by Sarma went to Tezpur, met Deba and his parents and requested them to send the boy back with assurance that such incidents would not occur again. “But the boy is still scared. We have meanwhile ordered an internal inquiry. One of the six boys Deba mentioned to us in confidence admitted to having assaulted him and forced urine on him,” Sarma said.

Manipur Erupts in Anger

Imphal, Nov 21 : Various student bodies and civil organizations are seething in anger over the killing of a Manipur student in the national capital and the attack on a state student in Bangalore.

Victim Zimram Kengo, a PhD scholar at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, was found murdered with his throat slit inside his rented room at Kotla Mubarakpur in South Delhi on Wednesday night. He hailed from the Naga-dominated Ukhrul district.

"This is not the first case of racial attacks on people from the northeast reported in mainland India, particularly New Delhi. We condemn such killings," Seth Shatsang, president of the All Naga Students' Association, Manipur (ANSAM) said. "How many bodies should be brought to Manipur from mainland India to wake up the state government?" said Seth Satsang. The culprits should be awarded befitting punishment following the law of the land, he said, while urging the Centre to take stringent measures to ensure such racial attacks on the NE people are stopped at once. "It is time, rather it's too late, for the state government to press the Centre to take steps for curbing such shameful crimes, he added.

In Bangalore, a 22-year old student from Manipur suffered head injuries when he was attacked by three men here on Wednesday night. Samuel, who is admitted to a hospital, said the assailants attacked him as they found his physical features different from them. Samuel, on his way home, was teased by three strangers. Ignoring the men, he moved ahead but they came from behind and attacked him.

Various other civil society groups joined voices to urge the Centre for framing a specific policy to end racial discrimination against NE people in different cities. Wednesday's incident came barely four months after miscreants thrashed to death a 30-year-old Shaloni from Tungjoy village in Manipur's Senapati district.

M C Mary Kom Receives Rs 5 Lakh For Boxing Academy

Star Indian woman boxer M C Mary Kom today received Rs 5 lakh for setting up a boxing academy in her native state of Manipur from a private insurance company through its initiative "Need for Champions".

The London Olympic Games bronze medal winner received the cheque with her husband Onler and thanked "Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance" for supporting her career from early on through its philanthropic arm - Edelgive.

"Sponsors' support is very important for getting medals and producing champions. Through my academy I will be trying to not only produce boxers from Manipur but from all over India," said the five-time world champion who won the 51kg Asian Games gold medal in Incheon last month.

"After seven years women's boxing is becoming tougher with more and more competition at the Olympic Games, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games," said the Manipur star. "Women's boxing is being recognised in the country because of my hard work, dedication and determination to the sport," she added.

Former India hockey captain Viren Rasquinha, who is the CEO of not-for-profit sports promotion organisation Olympic Gold Quest said that among the list of OGQ-supported athletes, the Manipur boxer "is most recognised".

Narendra Modi Wants Final Solution To Naga Imbroglio within 18 Months

By Manan Kumar

Thuingaleng Muivah and Isak Chishi Swu

New Delhi, Nov 21 : With his eyes set to have a peaceful Northeast to help expand trade with South Asia, prime minister Narendra Modi has instructed interlocutor R N Ravi to come out with a proposed settlement that could be a final solution to the simmering Naga issue.

Sources said, Ravi, former chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee and ex-special director of Intelligence Bureau, has been asked to try and clinch a solution preferably within a year to 18 months.

Unlike former governments, the emphasis this time is not on a resolution but on a solution which, means the Centre is approaching the issue with a hardened stand of pushing for a settlement on its own terms and putting the onus to accept the proposal on National Socialist Council of Nagalim -- Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM).

Getting rid of the baggage of previous UPA government during which the last interlocutor R S Pandey and before him Ajit Lal had worked hard in shaping up a proposed settlement, new interlocutor Ravi is expected to start the negotiation afresh to find out and lay down a new solution.

In an apparent indication to sound out Centre's tough bargaining policy, Modi has chosen not to meet the NSCN-IM top leaders -- Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah who are camping in Lutyen's Delhi, just a couple of kilometres from Prime Minister's house, for past since mid-September.

This is the first time that the "proud" leaders have waited for so long to meet the PM. The earlier PMs used to give them time rather promptly.

This change also indicates if the Modi government is trying to tell the rebel outfit that the solution would not hinge on a political dialogue but within the given administrative framework which would suggest a drop down for the NSCN-IM, considered to be most formidable in the Northeast.

However, it will also sound out a clear message in general to all the other insurgent outfits in the region that the government's stand would remain tough, sources said.

Modi is expected to discuss the issue with chief ministers of both Nagaland and Manipur during this visit to the Northeast in the end of this month.

A key component of Modi's talk would be how to establish peace between warring Manipur and Naga groups who are demanding autonomy of the state's Naga-dominated hill districts and tackle NSCN-IM that wants integration of the Naga areas under a single administrative umbrella.

Observers within the government say that the tough posturing by the Centre could find answers for a lasting peace in the Northeast that is necessary to take trade with ASEAN group of countries like Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and PDR Laos etc.

A peaceful northeast can help India reach its aim of increasing the bilateral trade with ASEAN to $ 100 billion by 2015 and to $ 2000 by 2022.

To take the trade to this level and beyond, Manipur can serve as a major gateway from border point of Moreh to Myanmar and beyond right up to the doorsteps of ASEAN countries.

"We are looking forward to conclusion of negotiations for an ASEAN-India Transit Transport Agreement by 2015. The Tamu-Kalewa-Kalemyo sector of the India - Myanmar – Thailand trilateral highway project is expected to complete in 2016 and will create a new dynamics of synergy of trade and cultural relations with South Asian countries," said an official of the ministry of external affairs.