Thousands break into jail, drag, murder, hang rapist

Bijay Sankar Bora

Tribune News Service

Guwahati, March 5

Indefinite curfew was clamped in Dimapur town of Nagaland on Thursday evening after police opened fire to disperse an angry mob that lynched a rape accused after forcibly bringing him out of the jail in the town.

Nagaland Director General of Police L L Dougel said that a suspected illegal Bangladeshi immigrant, Syed Sharif Khan, who was accused of raping a local Naga college student in Dimapur, was on Thursday brought out of the jail by an angry mob led by students and some social organisations and was badly thrashed.

Police opened fire to disperse the mob. Indefinite curfew was clamped in the commercial hub of the hill state after the incident.

The rape accused was hooked to a car by the mob and dragged around the city before he died. The accused was a second-hand car dealer based in Dimapur and was married to a Sema tribe woman.

Tension was running high in Dimapur town after a girl had lodged an FIR with the police accusing Khan of raping her on February 24.

He was arrested by the police and was sent to judicial custody on Tuesday on production before the local court.

Thousands of protesters had marched to the office of the deputy commissioner in Dimapur on Wednesday to demand the most stringent of punishment for the rape accused. They also damaged some shops in the town allegedly owned by “illegal” Bangladeshi immigrants.

Today, hundreds of people, including members of Naga students’ bodies, representatives of various civil society organisations and citizens, stormed Dimapur jail and brought out the rape accused as jail guards remained mute spectators. Police apparently failed to mobilise forces in time to prevent the mob from catching hold pf the rape accused.

Meanwhile, an emergency cabinet meeting was held at 7 pm at the residential office of chief minister to take stock of the law and other situation in Dimapur.

The cabinet condemned the violent incident whereby the mob took the law into their hands, leading to the death of the accused, said a release issued by CMO Media Cell this evening.

The cabinet also decided to institute a high-level committee to inquire into the incident and find out the circumstances leading to it.

The committee would also inquire into the lapses or shortcomings on the part of any public servant in connection with the incident and the person or group of persons responsible for the violence leading to the death of the accused in the hands of the mob.

The chief minister, being in New Delhi, the cabinet meeting was chaired by Minister for Social Security & Welfare and Parliamentary Affairs, Kiyanilie Peseyie, the CMO Media Cell added. — With PTI inputs