India, Jan. 16 -- A 22-year-old postgraduate student from Assam was assaulted late at night inside a central university hostel in Madhya Pradesh, raising concerns over racism against students from the Northeast.

Hirok Jyoti Das, a postgraduate student of Economics at the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU), Amarkantak, was allegedly attacked inside a boys' hostel in the early hours of January 13.

According to Das and his friends, a group of fellow students barged into his room around 3-4 am, questioned his identity and place of origin - "Kaha se ho?" - and launched a vicious, unprovoked assault after learning that he was from Assam.

During the attack, Das reportedly heard chilling threats such as, "You've come here, you'll...