Nido Taniam’s autopsy report likely today

The autopsy report of Nido Taniam, the Arunachal Pradesh student who was beaten todeath last week, is expected today. The report is likely to throw light on the cause of the death of the teenager. Nido’s autopsy was conducted at AIIMS.

Nido Taniam had been mercilessly beaten by a group of shopekeepers in Lajpat Nagar area following an altercation that was sparked by their taunts on his hairstyle on Wednesday.

Nido Taniam, the son of Congress MLA Nido Pavitra, was rushed to the hospital on Thursday after his condition deteriorated suddenly. At the hospital, he was declared brought dead.

Furious over Nido’s death, students from the Northeast had taken out a rally and protested against the racial discrimination on Sunday.

A youth claiming to be his cousin told a TV channel, “This is surely about racism. Everybody in Delhi discriminates against us based on our looks. We are living in India, but we don’t know whether we are actually living in India or not..every time we are discriminated against.

“His family has been informed,” he said. .

According to Avinash Mishra, Chief Resident Commissioner, Arunchal Pradesh Bhavan, the incident took place on Wednesday when Taniam along with a friend had gone to Lajpat Nagar market to locate a friend’s address.

“He asked for directions at one of the shops there.

Some workers of the shop started making fun of his blonde hair. He asked them not to laugh at him but they didn’t budge.

In a fit of rage, he perhaps hit the shop’s counter breaking its glass,” he said.

After this a scuffle ensued during which he was thrashed by seven-eight people with sticks. He was badly injured as seen in some of the pictures clicked by his friends, Mishra said.

“Following the commotion, police arrived on the spot which got a settlement done. The boy even gave Rs.7,000 for the damaged counter. Police then called his uncle, Vinod, and asked him to take Tanian with him. Some of his friends arrived on the spot and took him with them,” he said.

They went to a medical store in Safdarjung where they took a tetanus injection and went to his home in Safdarjung.

He even took a cup of coffee before retiring to bed.

His friends say that he slept and 1 am and even got up once.

“However, he didn’t wake up in the morning. He was taken to AIIMS, where he was declared dead,” Mishra said.

Arunachal Pradesh MP Takam Sanjoy told a TV channel, “The humiliating discrimination meted out to northeastern students and other people either in Delhi or elsewhere is going to be protested on a large scale.

“North east students’ forum in Delhi will be protesting Saturday and MPs of north east will also be reaching from various camps to Delhi soon,” he said.

Sanjoy said the protesters will meet the Prime Minister, Delhi Chief Minister and the Home Minister to ensure that “this type of discrimination does not occur in the future”.

There have been incidents of targeting people from the north east, including rape of a BPO employee, in the national capital, leading to protests from outfits representing their cause.