New Delhi: A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been moved before the Supreme Court seeking the recognition of “racial slurs” as a distinct category of hate crime following the death of 24-year-old Anjel Chakma, a student from Tripura. The petition, filed by advocate Anoop Prakash Awasthi, calls for urgent judicial intervention to address what it describes as a “continuing constitutional failure” to protect citizens from India’s North-Eastern states from racially motivated violence. The plea invokes the landmark Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan ruling to seek binding interim guidelines until suitable legislation is enacted, citing a legislative vacuum in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, with respect to hate crimes.
The incident that triggered the plea allegedly occurred on December 9, 2025, in the Selaqui area of Dehradun, where Anjel Chakma, a final-year MBA student, was accosted by a group of men while shopping with his younger brother. According to the petition, the group targeted the brothers with derogatory racial abuse solely due to their North-Eastern appearance. When Chakma protested against the slurs and asserted his identity as an Indian citizen, the confrontation allegedly escalated into a violent assault involving sharp and blunt objects. Chakma sustained grievous injuries to his neck and spine, remained unconscious for 17 days, and ultimately succumbed to his injuries on December 26 or 27.
The petitioner contends that the existing criminal justice system lacks mechanisms to record racial bias at the initial stage of investigation, resulting in such incidents being treated as ordinary crimes. This approach, the plea argues, erases the underlying motive and dilutes the constitutional gravity of such acts, thereby violating fundamental rights under Articles 14, 15, 19, and 21 of the Constitution. To address this, the petition seeks the establishment of nodal agencies at both the central and state levels to redress racial crimes, as well as the creation of dedicated special police units in every district and metropolitan area. It further calls for mandatory awareness programmes, including workshops and debates in educational institutions, to promote social harmony.
While highlighting a long-standing pattern of discrimination—citing the 2014 death of Nido Taniam and several assaults on North-Eastern citizens in metropolitan cities—the petition notes that the Dehradun Police have offered a conflicting account. Senior Superintendent of Police Ajay Singh stated that preliminary investigations found no evidence of racial abuse, suggesting that the assault stemmed from a personal dispute following “banter” or a “joke” at a liquor shop. The police have maintained that the FIR does not mention allegations of racial bias and that no such complaints were raised during the victim’s initial interactions with authorities.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has expressed grief over the student’s death and assured the victim’s family of strict punishment for the culprits. As of late December, five accused have been taken into custody, including two minors who have been sent to a correction home. A sixth suspect, a Nepalese national identified as Yagyraj Awasthi, remains absconding, with a reward of ₹25,000 announced for information leading to his arrest.
The petition also records Chakma’s last reported words: “We are Indians. What certificate should we show to prove that?”
