A law student from Arunachal Pradesh, Niyang Pertin, took to Facebook’s livestreaming service to share her ordeal of being allegedly discriminated against at Delhi’s Jama Masjid.
The video, shared on October 31, caught the attention of minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju the next day who responded saying that he would “follow it up strongly.”
In the video titled ‘Extortion at its religious best’, she talks about how she and her friends were not allowed to enter the religious site unless they paid Rs 300 for carrying mobile phones. She goes on to say that while they were arguing with the officials at the gate there was a constant stream of visitors who were able to enter the Masjid without being charged anything.
“We don’t have a problem with being charged a mere amount of Rs 300, but the thing is they kept insisting that only we pay it, while other Indians who had phones with them - who were openly flaunting it - weren’t being charged. My question is why is it only us, why were they insisting only we pay,” she asks.
Niyang says they complained to a police officer but even his intervention did not stop the Masjid officials from allegedly ‘extorting’ the money from them.
Read | Manipuri woman alleges racism, harassment at Delhi airport’s immigration desk
Aside from the video, she also wrote about the entire incident on Facebook, addressed to the Prime Minister. “People from the North-eastern part of India are no strangers to having to go through the ordeal of proving their nationality every time they visit any national monuments, parks etc. The sad part is we have gone through this so many times that we have slowly become conditioned to accept it and have our IDs ready to prove our nationality during such trips within our own country,” she wrote.
Kiren Rijiju shared the video on Facebook saying, “North-East people still this type of incidents occur due to ignorance, lack of knowledge or attitude problems” despite the home ministry “taking various steps to stop discriminations.” He says sensitising people is ‘tough’, but that he follow up on the incident.
{{/usCountry}}Kiren Rijiju shared the video on Facebook saying, “North-East people still this type of incidents occur due to ignorance, lack of knowledge or attitude problems” despite the home ministry “taking various steps to stop discriminations.” He says sensitising people is ‘tough’, but that he follow up on the incident.
{{/usCountry}}