Mizoram woman found dead

TT, New Delhi, Oct. 17: A 27-year-old woman from Mizoram was allegedly murdered last night in her rented Delhi flat which she shared with her live-in partner.

According to the police, Juliet Zonunmawi’s body was found lying in a pool of blood in her rented Munirka apartment. Her body had multiple stab injuries.

Police today detained her live-in partner, Virender Singh, 30, for questioning.

“Her live-in partner with whom she had been staying together for the last couple of months is the prime suspect. The motive behind the murder is still not known,” said a senior police officer.

In the wake of the recent attacks against people from the Northeast, the police have prima facie ruled out any racial attack angle to the case and a murder case has been registered at Vasant Kunj police station.

During questioning, Virender, who hails from Uttarakhand, told the police that they had thrown a party last night and invited five friends.

“He told us the friends left the flat around 10.30pm and he had gone to see them off. When he returned to the flat after an hour, he saw Juliet lying on the bed and blood oozing out from her nose and mouth,” a police officer said.

He immediately raised an alarm and the neighbours rushed in and shifted her to Safdarjung Hospital where she was declared dead on arrival.

“We have found several contradictions in his statement and he is under our scanner. He is a second-year engineering student. Both had become friends through a social networking site and had been living at the rented apartment for the past few months,” a police officer said.

“We have recorded statements of some neighbours. The role of her live-in partner is very suspicious and we have called all the friends who were present at the party,” the officer added.

Neighbours described the victim as a “smiling, cheerful and helpful” girl.

Julie was a resident of Aizwal and had been working at a call centre in Gurgaon. “She had shifted to Delhi about five years ago,” said a police officer.

The police have informed the victim’s family members and they will reach Delhi tonight.

About 100 people from the Northeast protested outside Vasant Kunj police station against the recent attacks on people from the region.

Gogoi slams attacks

Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi today condemned the latest incidents of racial attacks on Northeast youths in Gurgaon and Bangalore, adds our staff reporter in Guwahati.

In a strongly worded statement issued today, Gogoi said, “Such dastardly attacks on youths from the Northeast in Delhi and other places are most despicable and reprehensible. Such racial attacks prevent them from coming into the mainstream.”

Gogoi’s statement came a day after two youths from Nagaland were beaten up by a group of people with cricket bats and hockey sticks in Sikanderpur area of Gurgaon.

On Tuesday night, an engineering student from Manipur and his two friends were assaulted by a mob led by three taxi drivers in Bangalore allegedly for not speaking Kannada.

Yesterday, the president of the Manipur unit of BJP, Thounaojam Chaoba Singh, had condemned the attacks and sought stringent punishment for the accused.

Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju today said the government has ensured that the accused will not be spared. “My office is looking at this seriously so that no further incidents like this happen,” he said here today on the sidelines of the infrastructure conclave.

“We are for prompt action so that culprits do not go scot-free,” he added.

The chief minister called for stern action against those responsible for these attacks. Gogoi also advocated enactment of a law to prevent these attacks.

A committee, set up to look into the concerns of people from the Northeast living in different parts of the country, had recommended legal measures to ensure their safety and security from any assault.

The M.P. Bezbaruah Committee, which submitted its report to Rijiju in July this year, had quoted the high court, which suggested that any attack of racial nature should be made a punishable offence.

The committee, however, had not suggested enactment of an anti-racism law but strengthening and proper implementation of existing laws.

Such attacks on students from the Northeast at regular intervals have evoked strong reactions in the region with people and organisations demanding some concrete action to put an end to such incidents.

In Kohima, Chuba Ozukum, president of Naga Hoho, the apex body of the Nagas, said, “We have been condemning such racial discrimination against the people from the Northeast and will continue to do so.”

The Hoho president asked authorities to immediately initiate action against the culprits who assaulted the two youths from Nagaland, Awang Zeliang and Aloto Sumi, in Gurgaon, reports our correspondent.

Speaker of the Hoho, Elu Ndang, said, “We regret that people in the mainland do not consider people of the Northeast as Indians.”

He cautioned that if mainland India does not consider people of the region as part of the country, there was a possibility of disintegration. Ndang said still many Indians did not know where Nagaland was or about the rest of the Northeast.

“We need to have a proper awareness campaign on the Northeast,” he added.

The Naga Students’ Federation has condemned the assault on the youths from Nagaland and demanded arrest of the culprits.