New Delhi November 29, 2010

Nearly two thousand students came in protest in Jantar Mantar, New Delhi today afternoon. Demanded Delhi Police to nab the culprits as early possible and bring to justice. Mizo Students Union, Mizoram Welfare Association and Mizo Christian Fellowship have submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh to compensate the victim as per SC/ST Atrocity Prevention Act 1995.

A 30-year-old woman, hailing from Mizoram, was picked up by five drunken men near Dhaula Kuan on November 24 and gangraped for over 40 minutes in a moving vehicle. She was forced into the vehicle near Nanakpura Gurdwara and was later found in a semi-conscious state in Mongolpuri Industrial Estate.

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Memorandum

November 26, 2010

We are writing to you with deep distress about the plight of tribal women, especially those from the North Eastern States who are living and working in National Capital Region and Delhi. Thousands of educated girls from Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh who had come to work in Call Centers and IT sectors in these cities are facing racial discrimination and sexual assault. They live in small groups, and are often alone, which becomes a soft target for harassment in their residence and workplace. The North East Support Centre & Helpline was founded in New Delhi four years ago by concerned groups to assist such girls who are in distress and in danger of physical and psychological harm.

We seek your urgent attention on the recent shocking incident of a Gurgaon based BPO employee 30 years old girl from Mizoram state. She was kidnapped and gang raped in a moving vehicle at Motibagh ring road on midnight of November 23, 2010. The incident has shocked the nation and panic has spread among working women, particularly young girls from North East India who used to return back home late night from work. This is not the first incident nor will be last when such incidents are continuously ignored and left without proper investigation.

Considering this recent incident and same incident happened in the same locality in 2005, and the unprecedented racial/gender-based violence meted to the people of North East India living in Delhi, North East Support Centre & Helpline sees the need that serious and concrete steps should be taken up by the law enforcing agencies. Therefore, North East Support Centre & Helpline demands the following from your good office:

1. Special Helpline for North East communities should be set up immediately, headed by not lower than a range of Deputy Commissioner Police, preferably from North East region.

2. There should be special Night Police Patrolling in all the prone areas of racial/sexual-based violence. The areas identified by North East Support Centre & Helpline are Murnika, Mahipalpur, Nanakpura, Motibagh, Mohamadpur, Khanpur, Sarojini Nagar, New Friends colony, Defense Colony in South Delhi, North Delhi Campus, Nehru Vihar, Gandhi Vihar in North Delhi and Sikhanderpur in Gurgaon. Setting up of special night police patrolling in these areas will not only prevent racial/gender-based violence face by people from North East India, but will also ensure safety to all the working women who are returning late at night from workplace.

3. CCTV cameras must be installed in the above mentioned prone areas to nab the culprits.

4. A white paper on actions taken by Delhi police on crimes committed against people from North East India in Delhi and NCR which were registered in various police stations should be produced.

5. The BPO Company at Gurgaon where victim was working must be booked for failing to provide safety measurement to night working woman.

6. Hostel for North East working women in Delhi and NCR

7. Victim belongs to a tribal community of Mizoram and therefore, the culprits should be booked under suitable sections of IPC and SC/ST Atrocity Prevention Act 1995.

North East Support Centre & Helpline (www.nehelpline.net) is a joint initiative of various human rights activists, social workers, students, journalists and lawyers seeking to prevent harassment and abuses meted out to North East People and tribal communities of other states.