Chin refugee couple beaten up in Delhi

27 May 2015 — A Chin couple living as refugees in Delhi were beaten up while making an attempt to calm down an argument between a neighbour Chin and a local Indian about water.

Thawng Tin Kham and wife Dawt Tin Sung were attacked by two Indian men as they intervened in the argument happening around midnight on 26 May over the water mortar pump shared by flat mates.

Kham reported to the Chin Human Rights Organization that the Indian man and his drunk friend had hit and kicked them several times and that they had been injured in the head, face and neck.

There are nine Chin refugee families and three Indian families living in the building where they share the water pump.

Sung told the CHRO: “Normally, we, all tenants, share the same water mortar. Whenever we started the pump, the Indian man turned off our pipeline and let the water flow into his own tank. Yesterday, Thang Bawi turned it on as he couldn’t tolerate it any more that night.”

The two men, who were drinking alcohol on the top floor, started beating their Chin friend, according to Sung.

“We took our friend into our room. Suddenly, the men broke our door open. They kicked, beat and hit me and my husband. My face and nose were bleeding. Other families who tried to intervene were also beaten by the two Indians. Afterwards, they called the police and reported the incident to them by phone.”

The police summoned the couple, accompanied by leaders from the Hakha refugee community, to the police station.

“We were there for about two hours and interrogated at the station. We believe that the Indians bribed the police. They let them go without any punishment and we were told that they wouldn’t be a problem any more,” she added.

She said that they had felt sad and helpless when they had gone home around 3am from the police station.

The Chin couple reported the case to the Socio-Legal Information Centre today. However, there has not been any response from the SLIC office.

Sung said: “We were asked by a SLIC officer whether we wanted to log FIR (First Information Report) or not? We decided not to because the SLIC office told us that if we log FIR, we will need to stay in Delhi for many more years and have to pay for transport to go to court on our own. We won’t be able to afford it.”

Meanwhile, the Indian landlord has warned that the Chin couple must move out of the building by 2 June 2015 and that they would be killed if they didn’t manage to do so.#