Mob storms jail, beats ‘Bangladeshi rapist’ to death in Nagaland

A rape suspect has been dragged out of jail and lynched by a mob in India’s north-eastern state of Nagaland.

The accused was allegedly an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant, identified as Syed Farid Khan, 35, residing in the state’s commercial town Dimapur.
 
He allegedly raped a 19-year old Naga student on Feb 23.
 
People, who had been demanding stringent punishment for the alleged rapist, turned violent on Thursday and took law into their hands.
 
Thousands of people, mostly students, barged into Dimapur's central jail around 4:30pm and forcibly took Farid out of his cell.
 
They then lynched him after parading him naked through the streets.
 
The Nagaland government, in a cabinet meeting, has condemned the gruesome incident and ordered an investigation.
 
In the subsequent police firing to disperse the mob, at least 20 people were injured.
 
The mob also torched and damaged a few police vehicles.
 
Farid, a migrant Muslim from Assam, was suspected to be a Bangladeshi national.
 
A dealer in used cars, he died before he could be rescued by police and taken to a hospital.
 
Dimapur Superintendent of Police Meren Jamir said, “The situation is very tense. We are trying our best to restore order and maintain peace in the area.
 
“Additional security has been deployed to ensure the situation does not escalate further.”

According to Dimapur Deputy Commissioner Wezope Kenye, tension had been brewing in Dimapur after a complaint was lodged against Farid for allegedly raping the Naga girl several times on Feb 23.
 
A shutdown seeking stern action against Farid was called on Wednesday by several organisations led by Naga Students’ Federation and Naga Women Hoho.
 
However, with the protesters vandalising at least 20 shops belonging to non-locals, the situation quickly went out of control.
 
Subsequently, the district authorities promulgated Section 144 prohibiting assembly of people.
 
But that did not stop thousands of locals from marching to the office of Dimapur Municipal Council on Thursday, demanding cancellation of trade license to all Bengali-speaking Muslims.
 
From there, the protesters marched toward the jail located some 8 km away and took custody of Farid after tearing down two gates of the jail. 
 
They stripped him and were planning a public hanging at the town’s landmark Clock Tower.
 
But the accused, who had been thrashed all along the way, soon succumbed to his injuries.
 
The angry protesters, who were not done yet, then tied his limp body to a two-wheeler and dragged it to the Clock Tower and strung it up.
 
Police, who were largely outnumbered, kept a distance while Farid was being dragged, but arrived after his body was put up for display.
 
They fired into the air to disperse the protesters who retaliated by pelting stones and torched more than 10 police vehicles.
 
Jail authorities expressed their helplessness against the irate mob, even as police ordered a probe into the “Bastille-like storming”.
 
According to an official, they were assessing the damage but expressed fear that some prisoners might have escaped during the public raid.