New Delhi, Feb. 19 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed a petitioner seeking the use of "racial slurs" to be recognised as a separate category of hate crimes to approach the Union government even as it observed that the instances of violent crimes against persons from Northeast should be curbed with an "iron hand". A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said, "It is unfortunate that such incidents have happened," referring to the death of Anjel Chakma, a student from Tripura who was attacked along with his brother in December 2025 while they were shopping in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. "Such incidents must be curbed with an iron hand," added the bench, also comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi while hearing a public interest litigation filed by advocate Anoop Prakash Awasthi. It sought guidelines recognising the use of racial slurs as a separate category of hate crime and sought directions for creating a body in every state for reporting racial crimes along with a dedicated police unit to investigate the same in each district or metropolitan area....