Mob lynches 2 Arunachal men accused of raping, killing minor

Itanagar, February 20

A mob barged into a police station, dragged out two men accused of raping and killing a minor and then lynched them on the streets in a town in Arunachal Pradesh’s Lohit district, police said on Tuesday.

The two had been arrested for the alleged rape and murder of a five-year-old girl at Namgo village in the district, the police said.

The mob on Monday overpowered the police personnel at the Tezu police station and pulled the two accused--Sanjay Sobar and Jagdish Lohar of Assam--out of the lockup.

The crowd then stripped the men, dragged them through the streets and beat them to death, the police said.

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Chief Minister Pema Khandu has ordered a police inquiry and also a magisterial probe into the incident.

The body of the girl, who had been missing since February 12, was found near a tea garden, a few kilometres from the village, on Sunday.

The police claimed the two accused had confessed to the crime.

Three policemen, including the in-charge of the Tezu station and a woman sub-inspector, were suspended and the SP was transferred for their “inefficiency” in dealing with the matter, an official release said here on Tuesday.

Lohit district’s deputy commissioner has promulgated prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC restricting the movement and assembly of more than three people at any one time in the Tezu township area.

Expressing shock over the incident, the chief minister ordered a police inquiry by DIG Eastern Range Apur Bipin and said the report must be submitted within seven days.

Khandu also ordered a magisterial inquiry into the episode.

“We are citizens of a great country who abide by the law enshrined in the Constitution. Our laid-down rules and regulations do not allow us to take the law in our hands,” Khandu said, appealing to the people to maintain peace.

The Chief Minister, who described the rape and the mob action as “barbaric and inhuman”, showed solidarity with the minor’s family.

He, however, said the police and judiciary should be equally respected as they were meant for the safety and security of the people. PTI