A frenzied mob stormed into a prison, dragged out an alleged rapist, and thrashed him to death in Nagaland on Thursday. The outnumbered police failed to control the crowd of thousands as they kicked and pelted him with stones. His naked and bloodied body was strung up in the local square in the town of Dimapur.
Syed Farid Khan, a trader of second hand cars, was accused of raping a Naga girl on Feb. 23. He was suspected to be a Bangladeshi.
Over the past few days, tensions had been simmering in the town of Dimapur over the rape. Locals had participated in demonstrations to demand for tough action against Khan. Anger against suspected Bangladeshi infiltrators was also brimming. On Thursday, however, the situation spiralled out of control.
Several people were injured when the police opened fire to disperse the crowd after the gruesome episode had concluded.They reportedly torched a bus, vehicles, and shops belonging to Bangladeshis including Khan’s.
Horrific images of the lynching are circulating on social media, but the authorities have asked the media not to publish these photos.
Local ministers condemned the incident following an emergency cabinet meeting on Thursday evening.
On Friday morning, the hashtag #Nagaland was trending on Twitter as many expressed shock at the incident.
Whatever happened in Nagaland is a sign of people's lack of trust in Indian judiciary. Time to wake up. Govt sud act or people will react!
— Jitesh Jain (@jiteshujain) March 5, 2015
Unbelievable!! those who are advocating this type of vigilante justice by nagaland mob have no right to hate ISIS!!
— Surinder Tiwari (@surindertiwari) March 5, 2015
Rape accused should be punished but no point taking law in hand #Nagaland
— Gujju Bhai (@ydmanzzz) March 5, 2015
What has happened in Nagaland is another shame chapter for North East in front of Rest of India, NE cannot act like this, unbelievable.
— Mrinmoy Sinha, (@mrinmoysinha) March 5, 2015
As much as I am against what happened, today is a sad day for #dimapur#Nagaland what happened today was barbaric. We were taught better.
— Nicki Kanam (@drakhunkris) March 5, 2015