Dehradun: Tripura student dies after being stabbed over objection to racial abuse

A 24-year-old student from Tripura, Angel Chakma, died in a Dehradun hospital on Thursday, nearly two weeks after he was allegedly stabbed for objecting to racial and caste-based abuse in Uttarakhand’s capital.

Chakma was attacked on the evening of 9 December and succumbed to his injuries after 15 days of treatment, police said.

According to the FIR lodged on 12 December on the complaint of his brother Michel Chakma, the two had gone to a local market to buy household items when a group of allegedly intoxicated men began using caste-based slurs against Angel. When he objected to the remarks, the accused allegedly assaulted him with a knife and a rod.

“When my brother objected to their caste-based slurs, the accused persons attacked him with a knife and a rod,” the FIR stated.

Hospital sources said Angel suffered deep injuries to his head and neck, which proved fatal despite medical intervention.

Police said five people have been arrested in connection with the case, while another accused, identified as a Nepali national, managed to flee and is believed to have crossed the border. Efforts are underway to trace him, officials said.

Earlier, Michel had expressed fear that the accused might attack them again, claiming they were “influential persons”.

Angel’s father, a Border Security Force (BSF) personnel posted in the northeast, has taken his son’s body to their hometown in Tripura for the last rites.

The incident has once again drawn attention to allegations of racial abuse and violence faced by people from the northeastern states in other parts of the country.