'Didn't know Amir Shokeen, had never seen him before': Tripura youth on being subjected to racial abuse

New Delhi, October 24 (IANS): Lesongit Reang, the youth from Tripura who was allegedly subjected to racial abuse and harassment as depicted in a viral video, on Saturday said that he didn't know the accused, content creator Amir Shokeen, and that he had never seen him before.Speaking to IANS, Reang said: "Everyone should know what happened to me that day. First of all, I did not know him (Amir Shokeen) beforehand. I know one of his friends, but I did not know him, and neither had I seen him before. ""At that time, they may also have been under the influence of alcohol...and as you saw in the video, they said those things to me...one cannot say such things to someone, especially to an unknown person. I was hurt (due to the remarks), but there were a lot of people at that time so I could not do anything, not even object," he said.Accompanying the victim was Tipra Motha Party (TMP) founder Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman, who called for strict action against Shokeen, saying that apologising after committing such a mistake is not enough."I believe that making videos that hurt the sentiments of people from any region is completely unacceptable. If you want to make money by hurting or mocking someone or commenting on the physical appearance of people from a particular state, you should not only be punished, but your channel should also be banned, and you should be blocked," he told IANS."Won't it weaken the nation to call citizens of our own land by such names?" he asked while urging people across different parts of India to come together as one nation, having mutual respect for each other.Further, Barma said that action against Amir Shokeen should also be taken in Tripura, where an FIR has already been registered. "So that Shokeen gets to witness the culture of Tripura," he said.The TMP chief added: "Apologising after committing a mistake in the fear of going to jail doesn't reduce your crime."Earlier, Shokeen apologised after the offensive video surfaced on social media and earned him major backlash.In a Facebook post, Shokeen had claimed that the video was scripted and that the man featured in it was known to him.