‘Unacceptable’: Supreme Court condemns alleged assault on Kerala students in Delhi

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (November 11, 2025) expressed its strong disapproval over the recent incident in which two students from Kerala were allegedly attacked in the national capital, “forced” to speak in Hindi, and mocked for wearing lungis (colored mundus, a traditional attire in the state).

The students were reportedly attacked near Red Fort on September 24 by a group of miscreants who accused them of theft, with police personnel also said to have taken part in the attack.

Justices Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe said they came to know of the incident through media reports and stressed that such acts of racial discrimination were completely “unacceptable” in a country based on pluralism and unity.

“We recently read in the newspaper that a man from Kerala was ridiculed in Delhi for wearing a lungi. This is unacceptable in a country where people live in harmony… we are one country,” Justice Kumar noted.

Racial prejudice

The court was hearing a 2014 petition seeking guidelines for framing guidelines to protect people from the Northeastern states from racial discrimination. The plea cited a spate of such incidents, including the murder of Arunachal Pradesh student Nido Tania, who was beaten to death by shopkeepers in south Delhi on January 29, 2014.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had directed the Center to constitute a committee to monitor such incidents of racial violence and hate crimes and recommend preventive measures. It was further emphasized that meaningful prevention of such incidents can only be achieved through efforts to promote deeper attitudinal changes within universities, workplaces and society at large.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, appearing on behalf of the Centre, informed the court that a monitoring committee had already been constituted in accordance with earlier directions. However, lawyer Gaichangpou Gangmei, who represented the petitioner, alleged that cases of racial discrimination and exclusion of people from the Northeast continued.

Referring to the recent attack on the Kerala students, Justice Kumar noted that such incidents showed the continued prevalence of racial prejudice and told Mr Nataraj that the government “should be more concerned about it”.

The Bench was also informed by Mr Gangmei that the Monitoring Committee, which has a mandate to meet quarterly, had met only fourteen times in nine years. Taking cognizance of the petition filed, the court stayed the proceedings and directed the petitioner to file a response to the Centre’s latest status report.

Earlier, Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas had written a letter to Delhi Police Commissioner Satish Golcha, demanding an inquiry into what he described as an “inhuman attack, deprivation of liberty and cultural humiliation” of the two students. He had urged the commissioner to launch a high-level investigation, identify those responsible and retrieve the students’ belongings.

“Instead of extending protection, the police officers colluded with the crowd… the students were dragged away, beaten with fiber lathis, trampled, stripped naked and humiliated in the most humiliating manner,” the letter alleged.

However, Delhi Police had presented a different account of the incident.

DCP (North) Raja Banthia had told it The Hindu that some street vendors had taken the two students to the police post to resolve a payment dispute. “Some hawkers took them to the post after allegedly beating them in the market. The hawkers complained that these two persons had previously purchased clothes, paid ₹4,000 in cash and showed them an online payment of ₹10,000, which was not actually made. When they visited the market again on September 24, the hawkers identified them, got into an argument and assaulted them,” the DCP said.