NEW DELHI — Hundreds of young protesters from India’s far northeast demonstrated outside a New Delhi police station on Saturday, furious over the death last week of an 18-year-old man who was injured in a fight with shopkeepers, and complaining of widespread discrimination against them because of their East Asian features.

Though the exact cause of the sudden death of the man, Nido Tania, has yet to be determined, he was found dead in his bed less than a day after a violent altercation, and many in his circle say they believe he suffered serious internal injuries.

Two shopkeepers at the Rajasthan Paneer Shop, a dairy store tucked away in the corner of a residential street, are accused of making fun of his hairstyle, using an ethnic slur and later beating him.

Indians from the northeast who live in other parts of the country often face verbal abuse and harassment because many have distinct facial features and are not native speakers of Hindi or south Indian languages.

“We experience discrimination not just in Delhi, but in all of India outside of our states,” said Adam Patak, one of the students who organized Saturday’s protest. “They say we are Chinese or made in China.” Demonstrations also took place in Mr. Tania’s home state.

Continue reading the main story

Mr. Tania, the son of a legislator from the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, was visiting a friend on Wednesday when he approached the shopkeepers to ask for directions. After one of them made a derisive remark, Mr. Tania broke the glass of a refrigerated display case in the front of the shop, witnesses said.

The police were called and managed to broker a compromise at the police station. Mr. Tania agreed to compensate the store owners for the damage.

Mr. Tania’s father, Nido Pavitra, said that his son told him that the police returned him to the same spot and that the two shopkeepers and at least one other man then beat him severely.

“At first nothing happened, but the second time the Delhi police brought him to the spot, he was beaten very badly,” Mr. Pavitra said Saturday in Ziro, a town in Arunachal Pradesh, as he was taking his son’s body home. “It was a mistake of the Delhi police,” he said. “It was a great mistake; after solving the problem in the police station, they brought my son to the same place.”

Mr. Tania was found dead in bed on Thursday. Mr. Pavitra said that his son had assured his father he was fine on Wednesday night, and he speculated that internal injuries might have led to his son’s death.

The police have opened an investigation, said a police spokesman, Rajan Bhagat. Three people were detained for questioning on Friday.

Initial reports from an autopsy conducted on Friday were inconclusive. The final report is expected Monday.

Delhi’s police commissioner, B. S. Bassi, told reporters that it did not look like racially motivated crime. But, Delhi’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, condemned the act and underlined its racial nature.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy towards such unacceptable behavior since people from all parts of the country and those belonging to other countries, residing in Delhi, are its pride,” he said.

Mr. Pavitra said teasing should be viewed as a form of racism.

“Our look is different,” he said. “Those Delhi people, they cannot recognize us. They think we are from other country. It is their mistake.”

Those who live near the scene of the fight, meanwhile, expressed little sympathy for the protesters and said the shopkeepers were being unfairly treated. A resident who witnessed the episode but did not want to be named because he was unwilling to talk with the police, said he did not consider it a race crime.

“Even if a racist comment was passed,” the neighbor said, “he shouldn’t have reacted.”

Continue reading the main story