Angellica Aribam, a woman from the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, has lodged a complaint against a man identified as Mayank Sikarwar for allegedly attacking her with racial slurs on Twitter.
A tweet by Sikarwar was meant to highlight the importance of washing and said "wash your hands chinki", a word often used as a racial slur for people from the northeast. The word "chinki" amounts to a derogatory remark and is a punishable offence with up to a five-year jail term according to the country's anti-racism legislation.
In a series of tweets, Aribam shared a screenshot of abusive messages by several people in which she was attacked over her ethnic identity. The Twitter thread is going viral om social media with 1.9k retweets and hundreds of comments.
Several came out in support of Aribam. “Hearing a lot of stories about how racial slurs are being passed on people belonging to the North East. This kind of xenophobia deserves no leniency", said Twitter user Rachit Seth.
In a similar incident on Sunday, Delhi police booked a man for allegedly spitting on a woman from Manipur and attacking her with racial slurs and calling her “corona”.
People from northeastern states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Manipur are often targeted for their Mongoloid features. The coronavirus outbreak has triggered discrimination against northeast Indians as the virus was first reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Coronavirus cases have spiked in India with the toll reaching 415 positive cases and seven virus-related deaths.
The pandemic has infected at least 338,000 people across the world and killed 14,600 since November 2019.