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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Jail terms proposed for racial bias -Nishit Dholabhai

Jail terms proposed for racial bias -Nishit Dholabhai

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published Published on Jan 3, 2015   modified Modified on Jan 3, 2015
-The Telegraph

New Delhi: The Centre today said it was "considering" two new penal code provisions to punish racial discrimination and racial insults, recommended by a panel as a safeguard for people from the Northeast living elsewhere in the country.

Home minister Rajnath Singh announced a slew of other measures too for migrants from the region while signalling acceptance of the M.P. Bezbaruah committee's recommendations.

police

Officials clarified that the proposed Sections 153C and 509A would be general enough to cover anyone from any part of India facing any kind of racial bias. The law and justice ministry has agreed to the amendments, they added.

Section 153C relates to "imputations, assertions prejudicial to human dignity" and aims to punish any discriminatory act on the basis of race or racial customs, behaviour or way of living.

The draft provision says that if such an act causes or is likely to cause alarm or a feeling of insecurity among members "of that racial group", it can attract a jail term of up to five years. It will be a non-bailable offence.

Section 509A relates to "word, gesture or act intended to insult a member of a particular racial group or of any race".

One common complaint voiced by people from the Northeast is of being taunted with terms such as "chinky" or "Chinese". Insulting a person on the basis of their place of origin or racial features or behavioural pattern will now be a bailable offence carrying a maximum prison term of three years.

The Bezbaruah panel was set up in February after the lynching of teenaged Arunachal Pradesh student Nido Tania at a Delhi market on January 30 last year. It handed in its report in July, with the Centre committing to act on it within six months.

"This is the sixth month, so we had to announce it now," Rajnath said when asked if the announcement had been timed with an eye on the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections.

Bezbaruah, a member of the North Eastern Council - which advises the Centre on the region's social and economic development - welcomed the Centre's announcement.

"We had stated in our report that the immediate measure should be to amend the IPC while a debate goes on about a full-fledged anti-racial legislation," he said over the phone from Shillong.

Activists issued a qualified welcome. Binalakshmi Nepram, whom the Bezbaruah panel had consulted, said Rajnath had "skimmed through" some of the committee's recommendations.

For instance, Rajnath announced that the Delhi police would recruit 20 personnel from each of the eight northeastern states whereas the panel had recommended recruitment of 600 cops from the region, Nepram said.

Rajnath also announced a panel of two male and five women lawyers to provide legal assistance to people from the Northeast in Delhi.

"The Delhi government will also be providing compensation and monetary assistance to the Northeast people under the Delhi Victim Compensation Scheme, 2011," he said.


The Telegraph, 3 January, 2015, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150103/jsp/nation/story_6516.jsp#.VKgUznvxyBE


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