NEW DELHI: In a suspected case of hate crime against people from the North-East, two youngmen from Nagaland were bludgeoned with cricket bats and hockey sticks in Gurgaon in Haryana. The victims identified as Awang Newmei (22) and Aloto Chishi (25) have been staying in Sikanderpur over the last two years and work in a BPO.
The North-East students’ support group said that the victims were called out of their houses in Sikanderpur area at around 11.30 pm and taken to a nearby vegetable market where they were assaulted. The attackers also cut the young men’s hair and asked them to tell their friends from the North-East to leave Gurgaon.
“If you guys from Manipur and Nagaland come and stay here, we will kill you,” the locals reportedly told the victims. They had gone to a friend’s place around 11.30 pm to get a bottle of liquor, when one of them got a call from one of the attackers asking him to come outside. As soon as they were outside, they were surrounded by the seven attackers, taken to a room at a nearby vegetable market, forced to drink liquor, and then brutally assaulted for hours.The victims were taken to a private hospital but were moved to the Gurgaon Civil Hospital because of the severity of their wounds. One of them was later shifted to South Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital.
Police, however, said that it was a drunken brawl and not a hate crime while a case was registered at DLF City Phase I police station.
ACP (DLF) Dalbir Singh said, “We have registered the case under Section 307(Attempt to Murder), 323(Assault), 506 (Threatening for life), 148 and 149 under Indian Penal code and SC/ST Act on Thursday afternoon.” The incident came a day after, an engineering student from Manipur was thrashed by a group of men in Bangalore.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that strict action would be taken against the culprits and demanded a report from the state governments on the two incidents.