Calling somebody ‘chinky’ in India is no fun anymore but a racist comment and the accused may face a maximum imprisonment of five years.
The Government of India has directed all the states and union territories to punish the people who call the North-Eastern people ‘chinky’, to protect them from racial discrimination.
Will this directive work?
This has generated mixed reactions - supporters of the north-eastern people feel that this step should have been taken long ago. But others say that five years’ imprisonment is little too harsh.
‘Chinky’, a generic term commonly used to refer north-eastern people in India, mainly from Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram because of their mongoloid features. This term is considered as an ethnic slur referring to people of mainly Chinese ethnicity and East-Asian descent. Use of the term is broadly considered offensive and has garnered a great deal of media attention.
But now if you call anyone ‘chinky’ and if he/she does not like it then in that case the term will be treated as a racist comment in India and the culprit may be jailed for a span of five years.
A large number of students from North-east live in Delhi and especially in Delhi University areas and they justify the sentence and said that persons referring them as ‘chinky’ must be jailed.
