On the morning of December 9, Dehradun had already begun to feel the bite of winter. While daytime temperatures hovered around 23 degrees Celsius, the nights dipped to nearly 8 degrees.
Brothers Anjel Chakma and Michael Chakma decided it would be a good day to step out to buy household essentials. They left home together. Only one of them returned.
That December morning, the last words spoken by Anjel Chakma, a 24-year-old MBA student at a private university in Dehradun, were: "I am Indian." Anjel was the son of a Border Security Force jawan, with his father currently serving the country in Manipur.
According to reports, Anjel was determined to complete his studies and support his struggling parents. He had told his father that it was finally time for him to rest after years of hard work. Anjel had recently secured a job with a French multinational company through campus placement and was elated about the future.
That future was cut short.
As the two brothers walked that day, a group of men began shouting racial slurs at them. When Michael confronted them, the men attacked both brothers. Anjel was stabbed and later succumbed to his injuries after spending eighteen days in the hospital.
He had sustained severe wounds: 13 stitches on the right side of his neck measuring 12.5 cm, three stitches on his lower back, one on his right shoulder, and injuries to his vertebrae and spinal cord.
This incident is not new.
Racist attacks against people from Northeast India are frequently reported. Deaths caused by such attacks may be fewer, but they are far from uncommon.
Just twelve years earlier, in 2014, the killing of 20-year-old Nido Tania from Arunachal Pradesh had exposed the deep-rooted racism faced by Northeastern people in India. Nido was beaten with iron rods and sticks following an altercation with a shopkeeper and others in South Delhi's Lajpat Nagar market on January 29, after racial slurs were hurled at him and his dyed blonde hair was mocked.
The killing sparked national outrage. Politicians spoke. Citizens protested. Calls for reform grew louder. One significant outcome was the formation of the Bezbaruah Committee.
Headed by M.P. Bezbaruah, then a member of the North Eastern Council, the committee was set up in February 2014 by the Ministry of Home Affairs following Nido Tania's death. Its mandate was to listen to the concerns of people from Northeast India living in other parts of the country, especially metro cities, and to recommend measures for the Government of India to address racial discrimination. The committee submitted its report on July 11, 2014.
The recommendations, publicly available on the Ministry of Home Affairs website, were divided into immediate, short-term, and long-term measures. These included legal reforms, amendments to Section 153 of the IPC, legal awareness programmes, special police initiatives, a dedicated helpline for Northeast residents (1093), special police units, and the inclusion of Northeast history and culture in school textbooks, among others.
Yet, fourteen years later, history has repeated itself.
Another death. The same cycle of racial slurs, confrontation, and violent assault. This raises a pressing question: Has the Bezbaruah Committee failed its mandate?
The committee comprised twelve members in addition to its chairperson. EastMojo reached out to three members. One declined to comment, citing government employment. Two others responded.
Joram Maivio, Special Invitee to the Monitoring Committee under the Ministry of Home Affairs and a member of the Bezbaruah Committee, recalled the struggle that led to its formation.
"The brutal, racially motivated killing of Anjel Chakma, targeted simply because he looked different, is deeply painful and unacceptable. This was not just an attack on one individual; it exposes a long-standing, chronic, and systemic problem of racial discrimination," Maivio said.
"I remember standing on the streets of Delhi for months, urging the country and the government to acknowledge this reality. That struggle led to the formation of the Bezbaruah Committee in 2014, and we submitted comprehensive recommendations."
Maivio explained that the committee addressed racial discrimination, targeted violence, police insensitivity, weak legal protection, cultural alienation, and their impact on national integration. Its scope covered legal measures, special police initiatives, education, media, sports, infrastructure, accommodation, and awareness creation.
However, he pointed out a major flaw.
"The mandate was largely adequate and well designed, but it lacked clear accountability mechanisms, timelines, and strong enforcement provisions."
The most serious faultline, he said, was geographical.
"Implementation has been partial and largely confined to Delhi. No anti-racial discrimination law has been enacted. No IPC amendments. No regular monitoring meetings. On paper, some things have been done, but action outside Delhi has been negligible."
"We consistently pushed for special units, police sensitisation, hostels, and support centres. We raised these repeatedly in meetings, but outside Delhi, implementation has been minimal."
Maivio said letters were sent to the Directors General of Police and State governments, including Uttarakhand, where Anjel Chakma was killed.
In Dehradun, Anjel Chakma's family had to wait three days before an FIR was registered.
Maivio outlined what is urgently needed now: enactment of an anti-racial discrimination law or amendments to IPC Sections 153C and 509A; establishment of Northeast Cells, helplines, and special police units in major cities; inclusion of Northeast history in school curricula; nationwide sensitisation; full implementation of the Bezbaruah recommendations; strengthened policing; empowerment of SPUNER; appointment of nodal officers; and comprehensive victim support including counselling, legal aid, and relief funds.
While Maivio and other activists have tried hard to push for amendments in the law, there have been no changes. "We worked extensively with advocates on IPC amendments. Our recommendations were accepted in principle, but the law still does not adequately cover racially motivated crimes."
After the Bezbaruah Committee, a Karma Dorjee Monitoring Committee was formed to address the grievances of Northeastern citizens and review the recommendations of the earlier Bezbaruah Committee of 2014. Maivio was also made a member of this committee, but while they were asked to meet quarterly, the committee has only met 14 times in nine years.
"It has not been effective. The Supreme Court directed quarterly meetings, but since 2016, we have had only 14 or 15 meetings. Even the court has expressed dissatisfaction."
Alana Golmei, a humanitarian, activist and lawyer who was also part of the Bez Baruah committee, echoed similar concerns.
"I cannot entirely say this incident happened only because of failure to implement the Bezbaruah Committee recommendations, but there is clearly a lack of seriousness," she told EastMojo.
"These recommendations were meant for all States, not just Delhi. Yet mechanisms like the 1093 helpline exist only in Delhi. The nodal agency system was never implemented nationwide."
Golmei said the case reflected failures in policing. "If IPC Sections 153A, 153B, and 153C had been amended, there would have been stronger legal grounds to act. Today, racial slurs often go unpunished because there is no specific law."
That special police units were only set up in Delhi is also another concern, according to Golmei, as thousands of Northeast students live in different states of India, including Dehradun in Uttarakhand, where Anjel Chakma was studying. When Anjel's family went to file an FIR, they were made to wait for three days.
She added that police often rule out racial discrimination prematurely and that if nodal officers had been present, the case would have been registered and the accused would have been arrested immediately.
In Anjel Chakma's case, the Dehradun Police stated that their probe had found no evidence of racial abuse and claimed the assault followed a dispute over "banter."
On January 13, a report quoted Anjel's father, Tarun Kanti Chakma, saying he had sought a transfer to Delhi to pursue the case. A month after Anjel's death, the family had received no clear updates.
"We were told five people were arrested, but the prime accused is still absconding. We want a CBI probe to ensure justice," he said.
Golmei criticised the Union Home Ministry's role, "The Ministry of Home Affairs, which has jurisdiction over these matters, has not taken the implementation seriously. The Bezbaruah Committee's recommendations are treated as routine and ordinary, rather than as urgent safeguards. As a result, unless a tragedy occurs, like the deaths of Anjel Chakma or Nido Tania, they forget that these recommendations even exist."
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