Protesters submitted a memorandum to the Governor of Nagaland through the Resident Commissioner
By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
New Delhi: Civil society groups organized a joint protest outside the Nagaland House in the national capital on Saturday condemning the last week’s lynching of a rape accused by a mob in Dimapur. Protesters later submitted a memorandum to the Governor of Nagaland through the Resident Commissioner.
The joint protest was organized by the Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association (JTSA), Jamia Students Solidarity Forum (JSSF) and ANAHD; and was supported by several human rights activists and groups.
In the memo submitted to the Governor, protesters have demanded a judicial probe to investigate the entire chain of events, including an impartial investigation into the complaint of the rape and the culmination in the public lynching, adding that the perpetrators of the violence should be identified and prosecuted. The jail and local civil administration must be held accountable for the fatal lapses which led to the killing, they asserted.
Protesters have also demanded that adequate compensation should be paid to the family of the slain man.
“We strongly condemn the Nagaland lynching, where a mob broke into the Dimapur Jail, dragged a rape accused out, stripped him naked and lynched him to death. What is further disturbing is how the lynching has been justified by a section of the media and state administration by branding the victim an ‘’illegal Bangladeshi immigrant’’ (or ‘IBI’, as is used in Nagaland to often ‘otherise’ Bengali-speaking Muslims). This incident has also brought to the fore the total apathy and failure of the state machinery in the region,” the joint statement issued by the protesters said.
Protesters believe that the Nagaland lynching episode has more to do with patriarchal power than gender justice. “It goes on to reaffirm the deeply held patriarchal notion that women are the property of a community and it is for the men to ‘safeguard’ their property. The fact that the Naga accomplice of the rape accused wasn’t harmed by the mob only shows that the real threat to the community wasn’t the alleged rape as much as it was the ‘’audacity’’ of the ‘’Bangladeshi’’ other to have laid a claim on the body of a Naga woman. This is nothing but a disservice to the rape complainant,” the statement said.
They also pointed out the “negative impact” that the incident could have at many levels, including increased communal-ethnic tension and hatred towards the Muslim minorities of the region, who are more than often profiled as Bangladeshi immigrants.
“An incident like this goes way beyond to stigmatize minorities within minorities in the country and further paves the ground for the already prevailing violence against them. As advocates for gender equality and sexuality rights, we strongly condemn such violence that pushes the agenda of human rights and gender justice into a misguided cycle of violence, incapable of producing justice as it is desired,” they added.
Criticising the media, they said, “It is indeed sad to see the callous and insensible reporting that adds on to these instances of heightened tension and chaos in times of conflict. Rape and gender violence is systemic in nature and one needs to understand the underlying nuances instead of looking into the same in isolation.”
Copy of memorandum submitted to Nagaland Governor
To,
The Hon’ble Governor
Nagaland
Through the Resident Commissioner
Nagaland House, New Delhi.
Sir,
We the undersigned are extremely concerned about the recent incident of lynching of a man accused of rape by a large mob in Dimapur. It is a matter of grave concern that the slain man was in judicial custody when he was attacked and killed. There are also news reports that indicate that this act of violence was not sudden but there were indications that such a violence could indeed break out. This clearly reflects on the apathy of the state machinery in preemptively controlling this.
We therefore demand:
1) A judicial probe to investigate the entire chain of events, including an impartial investigation into the complaint of the rape and the culmination in the public lynching.
2) The perpetrators of the violence should be identified and prosecuted.
3) We demand that compensation be paid to the family of the slain man.
4) The jail and local civil administration be held accountable for the fatal lapses which led to the killing.
Thanking you,
Sincerely,
Manisha Sethi, Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association (JTSA)
Rafiul Rehmna, Delhi University
Purwa Bhardwaj
Aamir, ANHAD
Abhay Kumar, JNU
Areeb Rizvi, Jamia
Mansi, JTSA
Dipak Dholakia, Peoples’ Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS)
Iqbal Ahmad
Tanweer Fazal, JTSA
Imran Ali
Ghazala Jamil, Nagrik Ekta Manch
Manisha Behl, North East Network
Navaid Hamid, MOEMIN
Shabnam Hashmi, ANHAD
Anamul Haque
Nandini Rao
Ovais Sultan, PADS