Meghalaya CM Mukul Sangma demands new law to deal with cases of 'discrimination' against northeastern students

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NEW DELHI: Chief minister of Meghalaya Mukul Sangma has demanded a more thorough investigation, "stringent follow-up", integration of the nation and finally, fresh legislation to deal with "instances of discrimination and cases of atrocities" against students of the northeast. He said on Monday that he intends to use the case involving his niece, Dana S Sangma, 23, who committed suicide after she was allegedly humiliated by the staff of Amity University, where she was student, to address the larger issues pertaining to the treatment of students from the northeastern states. Sagma demanded a law that will act as a "deterrent" for all those with "limited knowledge of the huge diversity of the nation." "I have already written to the HRD minister and will be taking up the same issue with other chief ministers," he said. "The present situation demands a larger engagement of all the stakeholders or putting in place a system that will deter the tendency of discrimination and atrocities in institutions/universities by insensitive administration," says his statement. Dana Sangma had been hauled up by an invigilator for having a switched-on mobile phone in her pocket during an exam.

Sangma argues that his family chose to not seek exemption from post-mortem because officials from Meghalaya house, sent by Sangma, found "some indication that was obvious" that there was more to the suicide story. Sangma says he made enquiries and found that his niece was "sitting in the first row in a small examination hall with two invigilators" - implying that cheating would have been difficult in those conditions -- and added that her phone was confiscated by the authorities.

Sangma also insisted that his interest in the welfare of students from the northeast is not a sudden one brought on by his niece's death. He says he's been involved with student politics for long and would have reacted the same way "if it had been any other student from [his] state." "The issue of safety, security and well-being of the students emerging time and again, which is relevant particularly in the case of students from northeast who also follow a culture which others in this part of the country are less familiar with is a matter of concern," says his statement. "There should be complete integration," he says, such that no group of people "have the scope to feel ostracized."