‘Chinki’, ‘Thapa’, ‘Nepali’. These are the terms that people from country’s North East states have to confront everyday. While most have learnt to live with it, incidents like the recent murder of 19-year-old girl from Manipur leads to pent up anger giving way to protests.

Following the Saturday evening incident, the Capital’s North Eastern crowd is yet again asking themselves and each other how safe the city is for them. From being groped on the roads to being charged extra by the autorickshaw drivers, their woes are unending.

Marngam Bagra, a student of JNU from Arunachal Pradesh where matriarchal culture is a way of life, feels that molestation has become a part of everyday life for her and other girls from North East states.

“The moment I leave my campus, I am no longer safe, not even in Munirka, the nearest residential area. That is why if a North Eastern girl comes to JNU, we don’t allow her to go back during night. We pester her to stay back and leave in the morning instead,” Bagra says.

It is not just the girls who fear for their safety, the boys, too, have similar concerns.

Mongve Rongpi from Assam recalls how he was stopped by a group of men as he was driving on a deserted road. The group threatened to beat him up. Without second thoughts, Rongpi fled from the area.

Students allege that even the government authorities are unhelpful. Sometimes the police blame their attire for the attacks or sometimes they just don’t bother, the students say. “The obsession with our attire is too much. Girls from Delhi wear similar clothes, but we are singled out because we look different,” Jasmine Rupini says.

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