The Supreme Court on Tuesday voiced deep concern over a recent incident in Delhi where two students from Kerala were allegedly assaulted and mocked for their language and traditional attire near the Red Fort, calling such incidents “unacceptable in a country where people live in harmony.”
A Bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe made the observation while hearing a long-pending plea filed in 2015 following a spate of racial attacks, including the death of Arunachal Pradesh student Nido Tania in Delhi.
“We are one country,” the Bench said, expressing anguish that citizens were still being targeted because of their cultural or regional identities. “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,” the judges told the Centre’s counsel.
The court’s remarks came after media reports that two first-year students of Delhi University’s Zakir Husain Delhi College were allegedly assaulted by locals and police, forced to speak Hindi, and mocked for wearing the traditional ‘lungi’.
The hearing stemmed from a 2015 petition filed after repeated incidents of racial discrimination against people from the Northeast. The Supreme Court had earlier directed the Union government to constitute a committee to address racial discrimination, atrocities, and violence, and to recommend preventive measures.
The panel was expected to function as a monitoring body with powers to ensure strict action in such cases and to meet quarterly to review developments.
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General K.M. Nataraj, appearing for the Centre, informed the court that a monitoring committee had already been set up and that “nothing survives” in the petition.
However, counsel for the petitioner opposed this, arguing that racial discrimination and exclusion continue to affect people from the Northeast and other regions, pointing to recent incidents such as the assault on the Kerala students.
The petitioner also highlighted that the committee, which was supposed to meet every quarter, had convened only 14 times in nine years, indicating a lack of consistent oversight.
After hearing both sides, the Bench asked the petitioner to file a response to the status report submitted by the Centre. The matter will be taken up after the reply is filed.
The case continues to serve as a reminder of the Supreme Court’s earlier directions in response to racially motivated crimes and its emphasis on national unity and cultural respect. The latest remarks underscore the court’s concern that, despite past interventions, racial and regional prejudice remains a pressing issue that demands both social and administrative vigilance.
