Tripura Police have registered an FIR and sent a team to Delhi over a viral social media video in which a Delhi-based content creator allegedly hurled racial slurs at a young man from the state and humiliated him, officials said on Thursday, October 22. In the capital, the Delhi Police’s Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO), has been asked to look into the clip, while officers who went to the creator’s home could not find him.
What the video allegedly shows
The creator has been identified by police as Amir Shokeen. In the clip, which spread widely on Instagram and other platforms, he is allegedly seen mocking the young man’s looks and identity, calling him “Chinese” and using other insulting remarks, including a demeaning reference to Tripura.
The Tripura Students Forum Delhi took the matter to the Delhi Police’s Special Police Unit for North Eastern Region (SPUNER) in a complaint dated October 21. The forum alleged that the video showed the youth being sexually assaulted, harassed and treated in a humiliating way, and named an Instagram handle it said was linked to the incident. It asked police to verify who ran the account and who else took part in or filmed the incident, to preserve the original recording and its metadata, to protect the young man from further harassment and to register an FIR. SPUNER has since written to IFSO asking it to investigate.
Two police forces, one case
Tripura’s in-charge Inspector General of Police (Law and Order), Ipper Manchak Dnyanoba, said the young man had been identified and that police were trying to contact him. He added that accounts of where the video was filmed differ and are being checked. Delhi Police sources have indicated that Tripura Police will lead the investigation, with IFSO assisting.
In Agartala, youth and student groups linked to the Tipra Motha Party have also filed police complaints against the creator.
Apology and political reaction
Shokeen has posted apology videos in which he said the clip was meant as a joke, was scripted and featured a man he already knew. He said he had deleted it and asked the people of Tripura and Chief Minister Manik Saha for forgiveness.
This evil man will be punished. There was a delay in lodging the official complaint, but Delhi Police and Tripura Police will teach him a hard lesson.
Kiren Rijiju, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister, on X
Rijiju also said that people who tolerate such behaviour share responsibility for the spread of hatred. Chief Minister Saha has directed the state’s Director General of Police to coordinate with Delhi Police. The CPI(M), the Congress and the Tipra Motha Party in Tripura have all condemned the video, while the BJP has claimed the creator is associated with the Congress.
Why it matters and what comes next
The case has revived long-running concerns about racial abuse faced by people from the Northeast in Delhi and other big cities; the Delhi Police already runs a dedicated unit, SPUNER, for complaints from people of the region. Investigators are expected to establish where and when the video was shot, whether it was staged as the creator claims, and who else was involved, and to record the young man’s own account. Further steps, including any arrest, will depend on that inquiry.
