By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Dimapur (Nagaland): In a hair rising incident, a rape accused was paraded naked in streets, lynched and later hanged in full public glare at Dimapur, the capital of northeastern state of Nagaland, on Thursday.
The incident was widely reported by local television channels and also those from the neighbouring Assam. Police said, one Syed Sarif Khan had allegedly raped a girl on February 24. Following the complaint lodged by the girl, police arrested Khan from his residence.
Thousands of people gathered near the City Tower, where the mob first lynched a rape accused and then hung him to death. Earlier, he was paraded naked in the streets by the large number of protestors after he was pulled out from police premises.
Khan was pulled out from the police station by the mob. Quoting eye witnesses, a local TV channel said he was stripped naked and paraded in the street before he was hanged at the City Tower. “The accused was about to be set on fire but police intervention did not allow that. However, he was immediately hanged,” said an eyewitness.
The accused was a resident of Bosla village of Karimganj city. The man was arrested by police in an alleged rape case of a Naga woman and police was investigating the case. Two of his brothers are serving in the Indian Army.
Earlier, the protestors had thronged the roads of the city for last couple of days demanding the police and district administration to hand over the accused. The protesting mob had burnt down shops and attacked non-locals based in the city.
Various organizations and students’ bodies have been protesting for the last few days.
Meanwhile, miscreants vandalized shops and other business establishments across the city. On Wednesday night itself, several dozens of shops of non-locals who are from different parts of Assam and other places of the country were vandalized.
The miscreants also attacked some Bengali speaking people from Assam’s Barak Valley. The locals term these Bengali speaking people as Illegal Bangladeshi Immigrants (IBI) just because of their language.
“We are terrified that we might be attacked at any moment by the miscreants. What we have seen is that even the police won’t be able to protect us. We have to leave this place at the earliest,” said a terrified garment trader, who did not wished to be named.
Naga Council Dimapur (NCD), Naga Women Hoho Dimapur (NWHD) and several other organizations have condemned the incident of rape and asked the police and administration to adopt strict measure so that such heinous crimes do not reoccur.
The Nagaland Post quoted Dimapur deputy commissioner Wezope Kenye on Wednesday as saying that handing over of the accused to the protestors was not within his official powers. Kenye was also quoted as saying that withdrawal of the FIR lodged against the accused at the police station, as demanded, could only be quashed by the High Court.
The protestors had overpowered the police to pull out the accused from police premises. However, on Thursday, nobody was available for any statement.
Many suspected role of the district administration as the curfew was relaxed on Thursday morning. Wezope Kenye said curfew was relaxed for a peaceful rally organised by Naga Students Federation (NSF) and Western Sumi Hoho (WSH).
“It’s highly condemnable incident. How can an accused be treated like this when he was in police custody? The Assam government should take up the issue seriously. This is a failure of Nagaland government and police,” said Nitumoni Saikia, editor in chief of News Time Assam, which has telecast the news.