'It breaks my heart': Meghalaya woman alleges racial abuse twice in an hour in Delhi; shares ordeal online

NEW DELHI/SHILLONG: A 27-year-old flight attendant from Meghalaya has alleged that she was recently subjected to verbal racial abuse twice within an hour in Delhi — once in north Delhi's Kamla Nagar, then on the metro.

Her video on Instagram, describing the alleged experience last week, drew widespread attention after Union minister Kiren Rijiju reposted it, expressing support for her and condemning the incidents.

The woman claimed that a group of men sitting on a scooter in Kamla Nagar had mocked her using derogatory racial slurs and laughed. She said she then went to a nearby Tibetan eatery to eat but was too shaken. "I did not feel like eating anything. I couldn't even think. My brain was not able to process what was happening," she said in the video.

Later, while returning by the metro, she regretted not standing up to a man who also hurled a racial slur while another passenger laughed.

The flight attendant said she had visited many countries, but was never made to feel that she wasn't welcome. "But today, in my own country, my fellow Indians made me feel like I didn't belong here." The woman also tagged Meghalaya Tourism and a Northeast India community page.


"It breaks my heart. My only mistake is that I am born in India and I look like this, and I don't look like the rest of the Indians." Addressing the alleged perpetrators, she said, "You didn't just insult me. You insulted every person who's ever felt ‘othered' in their own country. India is diverse. Our faces, our languages, our cultures — all valid. You don't get to define who belongs and who doesn't."

The video, shared with hashtags like #RacismIsNotAJoke and #DelhiWakeUp, has garnered almost five lakh views, thousands of comments and likes, with many speaking about their own experiences of racism in the city.

Reposting the video, Union minister for parliamentary and minority affairs Rijiju, who represents Arunachal Pradesh West in the Lok Sabha, slammed those who allegedly targeted the woman and urged her to take photographs and report to the Delhi Police NE cell next time.

He added that the special police unit had been set up by govt to take action against "any atrocity or unlawful act against Northeast people". He added, "No one should disrespect people from other states in India. Treat all human beings as equals!"



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