Two colleagues and I were walking down Brigade Road late at night when we suddenly saw some commotion around a frequented area.
Two colleagues and I were walking down Brigade Road late at night when we suddenly saw some commotion around a frequented area.
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My enthusiastic news-hounding colleague stopped and enquired around in the presence of two police jeeps that had pulled up close by.
In a matter of a few minutes, we were dealing with a situation. Threats were being hurled and warnings issued, but suddenly it all died down and the police quite nonchalantly drove away, leaving us wondering what the whole fuss was about.
We were surprised to see three young North Eastern boys at the end of the road,u00a0 looking extremely angry and perplexed at what was happening. Being a Manipuri myself, I asked them what the matter was and was shocked to know what they told.
The three young boys weren't even a part of the whole scuffle that we were trying to figure out. They were just young boys who wanted to withdraw cash from an ATM nearby, who were unwillingly pulled into the whole inexplicable mess.
Is the police here to make North Easterns feel extremely unwelcome in another area within the same countryu00a0u00a0
A bar brawl at one of the pubs emptied out onto the street earlier that night.
We assume one gang had a few North Easterners, but they got away while the other gang hung around looking for someone to beat up because the moment they saw these three young boys, one of them took the liberty to slap one of these boys.
A fight began and the police were called. What angers me is how, even in the presence of all bystanders and even witnesses of the drunken madness, the police decided to let the perpetrators go, with mere simple warnings.
The lost and extremely disheartened youngsters walked down to the end of the road, looking helpless, boiling with anger like many young wronged North Easterners in India today.
Why did the police make so little of the drunken brawl, when it was more than clear that only one side was drunk?
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One obviously impeded on the public rights of the other and injured someone in the bargain and that very one got away quite easily, with a mere warning! Ridiculous! Is this what our police are here for?
To make people from another part of the country feel extremely unwelcome in another area within the same country? And then we wonder why North Easterners feel they don't belong to India. It's almost like the system is trying really hard at proving that they really aren't!
L Romal M Singh is Senior Features Writer and Chief Copy Editor, MiD DAY Bangalore
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