Urgent need of anti-racism law in India
In the light of recent events such as the death of a 19-year old boy from Arunachal Pradesh due to alleged racist attacks in a shop in Delhi, and the rape of a minor Manipuri girl by her landlord’s son, there have been calls from various quarters for enacting an anti-racism law to curb racial discrimination and attacks in India. However, passing an anti-racism law will not curb the problem of racism in India; effective implementation of existing laws and changing racist attitudes of people will.
The demand for an anti-racism law in India is often based on the argument that similar laws in other countries such as US have helped in reducing the extent of racism there. Such demands however do not take into account the fact that in US, racism was practised at an altogether different level with blacks not even allowed many economic and voting rights. This is not the case in India where at least theoretically under the constitution, every citizen has to be treated with equality irrespective of his race.
The problem of racial discrimination in India is also practised against dark-skinned South Indian people. Because of their dark skin, other aspects of their lives such as their language, food, culture, etc. are also ridiculed. In the case of north-east people, discrimination is not against their skin colour, rather it is against their distinct Mongoloid physical features, clothing and speaking styles. Their appearances and clothes are often an object of snide remarks and mockery in public places, and in extreme cases such as the one in Delhi, also lead to physical attacks.
An anti-racism law which might seek to punish such behaviours would not be effective in practice because of the prevailing culture of weak implementation of law. In fact, an abused north-eastern person’s complaint might not even be registered in the police station as is often the case with complaints of SCs & STs. Also, there are existing provisions in IPC which punish racial discrimination. If these are properly implemented, a new specific anti-racism law will be redundant.
Most importantly, it is important to change social attitudes among the new generation of Indians. School children should be sensitised about the need to have equal attitudes towards people of all races, religions, castes, class, languages, etc. Thus, instead of legislating new laws which would require additional resources for their drafting and implementation, racial discrimination will be more effectively curbed by proper implementation of existing laws and changing the social attitudes of people.
