Anjel Chakma: When Being Indian Was Not Enough
In December 2025, the death of Anjel Chakma , a 24-year-old MBA student from Tripura, shook the country and reopened uncomfortable conversations about safety, discrimination, and justice in India. What began as a street altercation in Dehradun ended with a young man losing his life, and a nation divided over how such violence should be understood and addressed. Anjel Chakma was a student from Tripura’s Chakma community, studying and living in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Like many students from the Northeast, he had moved away from home in search of education and opportunity. His life was cut short far from his family, under circumstances that remain under investigation. On 9 December 2025, Anjel and his younger brother were involved in an altercation with a group of local youths in the Selaqui area of Dehradun. According to Anjel’s family and initial witness accounts, the confrontation began after the brothers were subjected to racially derogatory remarks related to their appearance, with s...