The Supreme Court has asked the Monitoring Committee under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to meet at least once every three months to address racial discrimination and other grievances faced by people from the North-Eastern community. The Court also directed the committee to take cognisance of all issues, including matters reported in newspapers.
A Bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice K. Vinod Chandran passed the order on February 17 in a 2015 writ petition seeking Union Government intervention to protect people from the Northeast living across India. The petition alleged racial attacks and insults and sought guidelines for the safety and security of the North-Eastern community.
The Court said the committee must take note of any newspaper report on such issues. Further, if any committee member brings an issue to the Chairman’s notice, the committee should immediately convene a meeting to address it and take corrective measures, if required.
The Bench also directed the committee to meet on March 15. It ordered that a status report on the issues raised, discussed, and addressed in that meeting must be placed before the Court.
MHA Committee and its Background
The MHA constituted the Monitoring Committee to track complaints and address grievances relating to racial discrimination faced by people from the Northeast. The committee is headed by Niraj Kumar Bansod, Joint Secretary, MHA, and has eleven other members.
The committee must review the implementation of the committee formed in terms of the 2014 writ petition in Karma Dorjee & Ors v. UOI. M.P. Bezbaruah, IAS (Retd.), a member of the North Eastern Council, chaired that earlier committee. It examined concerns of people from Northeast States living in different parts of the country, especially in metropolitan cities. In Karma Dorjee, similar issues were raised, and the Bezbaruah Committee suggested setting up a Monitoring Committee.
Mandate of the Monitoring Committee
The mandate of the committee includes:
- Monitoring, overseeing, pursuing, and reviewing implementation of the M.P. Bezbaruah Committee Report dated 11-7-2014;
- Monitoring initiatives taken by the Government to curb and deal with incidents of racial discrimination/racial atrocities/racial violence;
- Monitoring action taken on incidents of racial discrimination/racial atrocities/racial violence, suggesting measures, and ensuring strict action;
- Receiving and considering complaints from individuals and groups claiming to be victims of racial abuse/violence/atrocities/discrimination, and forwarding them to the NHRC and/or SHRCs and/or the jurisdictional police station for enquiry and action;
- Issuing directions, including calling for reports on incidents of racial discrimination/racial atrocities/racial violence from State Governments/Union Territories;
- Enabling the Union Government to decide whether to accept any other recommendations.
Related Development Noted by Court
The order also noted that a Bench led by the Chief Justice of India recently requested the Attorney General to examine another plea concerning racial violence against people from the North East. The plea was filed in the wake of the Anjel Chakma murder.
Case Details and Appearances
Case Details: ALANA GOLMEI v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
