New Delhi, December 29: The Congress has demanded justice for Tripura youth Angel Chakma, who was brutally attacked in Dehradun in a racial assault and later succumbed to his serious injuries in the hospital.

Addressing a press conference here today, Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha and Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi demanded immediate arrest of the main accused, who is still absconding.

The senior Congress leader expressed grave concern over racial profiling of students and people from the North East of the country. Quoting Angel Chakma, he said, “I am an Indian, I am not Chinese”, while asserting, “people of the North East are Indians, not Chinese”.

Congress MP said that the case must be investigated in a time-bound manner and the guilty must be given the harshest punishment to convey a message across the country that there is zero tolerance for such crimes. He also called for raising awareness about the history, culture, languages and literature of the North East. He said that Unakoti in Tripura, the place Angel Chakma came from, has some of the ancient Shiva temples.

Gogoi noted that students from the North East travel across the country for their studies, and Angel Chakma had also gone to Dehradun for the same reason. “He did receive education, but also paid with his life”, he pointed out, while expressing grief over his death.

Gogoi demanded that the delay in registration of the FIR must also be probed. Quoting the family members of Angel Chakma, he said the FIR in the matter was registered 12 days after the incident, which provided enough time to the main accused to escape.