Naga students denied entry at retail food outlet as they looked Chinese; 3 arrested

GUWAHATI: Mysore police have arrested 3 people for denying entry to some Naga students at a More supermarket because they looked Chinese.

In a video, which has gone viral, a student is saying, “We are Indians, we need groceries too, we live here, we have Aadhaar Card. How can you discriminate (against) us?”

A twitter user posted:

https://twitter.com/KirenRijiju/status/1244180950373691393

After an FIR was lodged, the staff and the manager at the store were taken into custody.

A few days ago, Gaurav Vohra, a 40-year-old man, has been arrested by Delhi police for attacking a woman from Manipur and calling her “corona” a few days ago.

Vohra, who works at a pressure cooker manufacturing unit, even spat at her.

The woman had filed a complaint with the police after which investigations began.

Police caught him after analyzing CCTV footage from the area. A white scooty was also seized from his possession.

Netizens have condemned the incident. Some even shared details of the incident on Twitter.

Amid coronavirus outbreak, North Easterners have reported increasing cases of racism against them.

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju had condemned this kind of behaviour and had sent out on this.

In February, in an open letter, Northeast students at TISS have said that they are being subjected to discrimination due to distinctions in socio-cultural traits and physical features amid coronavirus outbreak that has killed hundreds of people in China and infected thousands.

“In the midst of the ongoing global health crisis due to an outbreak of Coronavirus, purportedly originating in the Wuhan province of China, we have seen a disturbing trend of discrimination and racial profiling across the world towards people of China origin and other Asian nations bearing mongoloid features. It is a grim reminder of inherent racial prejudices and stereotyping of particular peoples based on their physical features and perceived cultural inferiority,” the letter reads.

This also includes name-calling such as “Corona” and “Coronavirus” etc. at various public places, states the letter.

On March 3, two students from the Northeast were attacked by six men in Kamla Nagar, near Delhi University’s North Campus. They were also called “coronavirus.”

“They threw balloons at my friend and me. We had a male friend with us but they threw the balloons only at us, aiming at our private parts. They saw that I had Mongoloid features after I took off my pollution mask. After that they screamed, ‘Aye, coronavirus!’ I was too shocked to react,” one of the women, who studies at Hansraj College, told media.

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