The Supreme Court expressed strong concern after two Kerala students in Delhi were forced to speak Hindi and mocked for wearing a lungi, reminding that “we are one country.” The court said discrimination based on culture or language is “unacceptable.”
New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday strongly reminded everyone that “we are one country”, while expressing deep concern over an incident in Delhi where two students from Kerala were allegedly beaten up by police and locals near the Red Fort.
The students were reportedly “coerced” to speak Hindi and mocked for wearing their traditional lungi, a popular attire in Kerala.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe said they were
“pained that people in this country were targeted because of cultural and racial differences.”
The judges said that such behaviour has no place in a country known for its unity and diversity.
The case came up during the hearing of a petition filed back in 2015 after several incidents of racial violence against people from the Northeast, including the tragic death of Nido Tania, a student from Arunachal Pradesh, in Delhi.
Following that, the Supreme Court had directed the Central Government to form a committee to monitor racial discrimination and violence.
The court had also said that the committee must have powers to take strict action in cases of racial discrimination, racial atrocities, and racial violence, and also come up with strong measures to stop such hate crimes.
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During the latest hearing, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) KM Nataraj, representing the Centre, informed the court that a monitoring committee had already been formed and claimed that there was nothing more left to be done in the petition.
However, the petitioner’s lawyer disagreed, saying that incidents of racial discrimination and exclusion of people from the Northeast continue to occur even today.
The bench then remarked to the ASG,
“We read in the newspaper recently that a man from Kerala was ridiculed for wearing a lungi in Delhi. This is unacceptable in a country where people live in harmony. You should be more bothered about it. We are one country.”
The petitioner’s counsel also pointed out that the monitoring committee, which was supposed to meet every three months, had only met 14 times in nine years.
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After hearing both sides, the Supreme Court directed the petitioner to file a response to the status report submitted by the Centre.
The court made it clear that issues of racial bias and discrimination cannot be taken lightly, and every citizen — regardless of their region, culture, or language — deserves respect and equal treatment under the law.
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