Arunachal women mocked at Patna hospital washroom, video sparks anger

A group of young women from Arunachal Pradesh travelling in Bihar were stopped outside a hospital washroom in Patna, asked to produce identity documents, and then subjected to racial slurs — all of it caught on camera by one of the women herself.

The footage, filmed on April 2, shows a hospital attendant in a beige uniform blocking the group's entry to a public washroom and demanding ID proof. When the women declined, the attendant allegedly laughed and began calling them "Momo", "Chinki" and "Chinese." The video has since circulated widely, drawing sharp reactions from across the Northeast.

"We come from the Northeast to travel," one of the women said in the clip, addressing the camera, "but because of incidents like this, we are scared."

The remarks struck a nerve. For many in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and neighbouring states, the video was not a shock — it was confirmation of something they already knew. Discrimination against people from the Northeast, ranging from casual slurs to outright hostility, has been a persistent grievance for years, largely unaddressed.

The Patna incident follows a similar episode from February, when three women from Arunachal Pradesh were racially abused by a neighbour in Delhi's Malviya Nagar after a minor household dispute. An FIR was filed, the accused absconded, and the story faded — as these stories often do.

What keeps them coming back is the pattern. Young people from the Northeast travel, study and work across India, frequently encountering a suspicion that treats them as foreigners in their own country. A washroom in a public hospital ought to require nothing more than the need to use it.