The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday requested the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court to formulate a “holistic policy decision” aimed at ensuring the out-of-turn adjudication of sensitive cases involving racial discrimination against people from the North-East.
A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, alongside Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi, observed that such matters require urgent prioritization to ensure a productive timeline for justice.
The court was addressing a plea seeking time-bound trials for cases where individuals from the North-Eastern states are targeted. The petitioner highlighted a systemic delay in the judicial process, noting that even when investigations are completed and chargesheets filed, the actual trials often stretch on for years, denying timely justice to victims and their families.
During the proceedings, the petitioner’s counsel brought to the bench’s attention the infamous 2014 case of Nido Tania. Tania, a 19-year-old student from Arunachal Pradesh, was beaten to death in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar area, a case that sparked nationwide outrage over racial profiling and violence.
The court also took note of a separate, more recent tragedy involving Anjel Chakma, a 24-year-old MBA student from Tripura. Chakma died on December 26, 2025, after sustaining grievous injuries in an alleged racially motivated attack in the Selaqui area of Dehradun. The student, who had moved to Dehradun for higher studies after graduating from Holy Cross School in Agartala, was reportedly stabbed to death in the presence of his younger brother, Michael.
While disposing of the plea, the bench emphasized that identifying or discriminating against persons on the grounds of race, region, sex, or caste is “regressive.”
During a related hearing on February 18, the top court had refused to entertain a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) specifically aimed at preventing such discrimination, instead directing Attorney General R. Venkataramani to refer the matter to an appropriate authority for consideration.
However, in the current matter, the bench focused on the administrative bottleneck. The judges noted that “such matters require prioritisation and out-of-turn adjudication” to prevent the erosion of faith in the legal system due to procedural delays.
The Supreme Court requested the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court to “consider such issues on the administrative side.” The goal is to establish a policy framework that guarantees a “productive timeline” for these sensitive trials, allowing them to be heard on an out-of-turn basis.
By shifting the focus to a policy-level intervention, the apex court aims to ensure that cases of racial violence do not languish in the backlogs of the trial courts.
