What is the cost of a life? For the wife and 20-year-old son Chongtham Vikram Singh, it is the lifelong grief and trauma of losing a family member. For Manipur, it is the loss of a homegrown musical talent, who began practicing his craft when he was a child, and made his way from Imphal to the big stages of Delhi. And for the rest of India, it is a reckoning with the systemic racism that has historically exposed Northeasterners living in other parts of the country to racial discrimination, harassment, bullying and violence.

The concerns are not new, nor were solutions entirely out of reach. The Bezbaruah Committee, set up by the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government to address the discrimination faced by people from the Northeast, had made a series of recommendations to the Modi cabinet in 2014. A key component of the proposals was making changes to the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Twelve years on, this is yet to be implemented.

Accused ‘Wanted to Teach a Lesson’ to the Manipuri Guitarist

Singh, a 55-year-old Manipuri guitarist, was allegedly beaten to death by a group of young men outside his home in Kilokari village of Southwest Delhi. On September 6, around 11:30 pm, Singh had objected to the loud noise and commotion being created by the accused outside his apartment. 

Manipuri musician Chongtham Vikram Singh

Singh with his family

According to the police complaint, when his son heard him shouting, he opened the door to see the group of men violently attacking Singh. After the altercation, Singh returned home but complained of breathlessness, he was then taken to Holy Family Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries at 6 am on September 7. CCTV footage showed the accused leaving the building. Seven men and a minor have been arrested in the case so far.

A Manipuri music teacher, Chongtham Vikram Singh, living in Delhi's Ashram area was mob lynched by 8 people following a dispute over alleged noise and nuisance outside his residence.Police said seven accused have been arrested and a minor detained in connection with the case.… pic.twitter.com/4V0LVeVLiJ— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) September 7, 2026

A Manipuri music teacher, Chongtham Vikram Singh, living in Delhi's Ashram area was mob lynched by 8 people following a dispute over alleged noise and nuisance outside his residence.Police said seven accused have been arrested and a minor detained in connection with the case.… pic.twitter.com/4V0LVeVLiJ

The autopsy report revealed that Singh died of massive internal bleeding caused by severe physical trauma to his chest and abdomen. The accused allegedly kicked him on the chest and abdomen after he fell to the ground. During questioning, they told the police that they wanted to teach Singh a lesson. 

While the police investigation so far has not revealed any racial motive behind the violent attack, his death has brought to the fore larger concerns around hate faced by people from the Northeast in the nation’s capital and beyond. It also brings the Bezbaruah Committee’s recommendations, and the fate of those recommendations, back into focus.

The Bezbaruah Committee and Administrative Inaction

The Bezbaruah Committee was formed in February, 2014, after the killing of Nido Tania, a 20-year-old hailing from Arunachal Pradesh, who was beaten to death with iron rods and sticks by three men after a verbal altercation in Delhi. The accused hurled racial slurs at Tania during the attack. The committee was constituted “to look into the various concerns of persons hailing from the Northeastern states who are living in different parts of the country, especially the Metropolitan areas, and to suggest suitable remedial measures which could be taken by the Government.” It submitted its report to the MHA of the BJP government in July, 2014. It can be read here.

The most crucial among the recommendations, perhaps, was a proposal to amend the provisions of the then IPC by adding Sections 153C and 509A. Section 153C would criminalise words, signs or acts that promote discrimination or violence on grounds of race or place of origin, with up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine. Section 509A would criminalise any word, gesture or act intended to insult a member of a racial group, with up to three years and a fine.

On January 2, 2015, then Union home minister Rajnath Singh said that the amendments were accepted and Sections 153C and 509A would be added as recommended by the Committee. However, In 2017, minister of state, home, Kiren Rijiju said in the Rajya Sabha the proposal was still under examination, with states’ views being sought. Later, when the IPC was being officially changed to the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in 2024 and discussions were being held from 2023, the recommended amendments were entirely overlooked. The provisions were never enacted.

On September 8, 2026, two days after Singh’s killing, the MHA’s monitoring committee on Northeast issues convened a meeting to discuss the recommendations made more than a decade ago. Joram Maivio, a special invitee to the monitoring committee, MHA, and member of the........

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