Attack on Sikkim students condemned

KalimNews, Kalimpong, 21 December 2015:Condemning the attack and continues harassment to students of Sikkim, Gorkha students of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi has made an appeal to raise their voice against such incidents. It has referred a recent attack to Goirkha students by Himachal students in Chandigarh.

In a press release it has stated that the students from Sikkim were brutally beaten with rods, bricks and hockey sticks by some students and hooligans from Himachal Pradesh in full public view. This is the second time that students from Sikkim studying at Institute of Technology and Future Trends (ITFT) had to face such brutal assaults. When students from Sikkim resisted continuous racial slurs passed against them, they were assaulted by students of Himachal Pradesh.

According to the representative of Sikkim Student’s Welfare Association of Chandigarh (SSWAC), when 30-40 Sikkimese students were returning back after college at around 5:10pm-5:20pm on 15th December, a huge number of miscreants stopped their bus at Khuda Ali Sher Bus stand and started pelting stones, bricks without any consideration for human lives. The miscreants then used rods and sharp weapons to lash out on the students inflicting deep injuries. 

Almost all the students were severely injured and were later taken to hospital. Fearing for their lives several students were forced to flee the scene and are yet to be traced. The violent attack on Wednesday directed towards the students of Sikkim by students belonging to Himachal Pradesh (HP) could have been averted, provided the college authorities and the police could have taken prompt actions and dealt with the matter seriously during the first incident. It was confirmed by the police that racial remarks passed by the students from HP were the prime cause that led to the first clash on December 8 2015, a precursor to the current incident. 

The police have nabbed 10 students — Ajay Kumar, Sunny Thakur, Manu Thakur, Vishal, Anil, Rohit, Pardeep, Vijay, Sandeep and Gurjant — for rioting and wrongful restraint, and sent them to judicial custody. But more are yet to be arrested and are still at large.

This is not a new event that has taken place against students from the Northeast. The students of Sikkim have been harassed in all possible ways and local thugs have made it a point to fuel the fire even more. Only a few days back a video came to lime light, circulated via social media which portrayed merciless beating of students of Sikkim at the hands of some students from HP with the help of local goons. 

Following the first incident the SSWAC representative had even made an appeal in written naming some of the perpetrator to the head of the ITFT institute. However the head who has to look after the well being of all students irrespective of any social denominations scornfully directed the complainant to take the fight outside the premise of the institute. No prompt actions were taken against the students as such which emboldened them to stage the recent attack. The security and safety of Sikkim students studying at such prestigious institute as ITFT is once again compromised and open for the taking.

We condemn this continues harassment and dehumanisation on basis of race in strongest possible words and appeal to all progressive democratic forces to raise their voice against such incidents. We extend our solidarity with students of Sikkim. We demand that government should immediately come out of denial mode and enact anti-racial law to punish the perpetrators of such hate crime without any delay. We believe only the unity among the all oppressed and uncompromising fight can eradicate this social affliction.