NEW DELHI: Amid nationwide outrage over the murder of a Tripura student in Dehradun reportedly triggered by a dispute over a racial slur, a Delhi-based lawyer has moved the Supreme Court over the “continuing constitutional failure” to prevent racial discrimination against citizens from northeastern states and other frontier regions.
The petitioner, Anoop Prakash Awasthi, has made the Centre and all states & UTs parties to the plea. The petition seeks guidelines to recognise racial slurs as a separate category of hate crimes and determine punishment for the same. The PIL also notes that the kin of the murdered student want capital punishment or life imprisonment for all accused.