Mob fury sweeps Dimapur; rape accused Farid Khan dragged out from jail, lynched

One agitationist agitator killed in alleged police firing, scores injured

Henlly Phom/Temshinaro

DIMAPUR, MARCH 5

Dimapur saw another stormy day on Thursday with two deaths in mob fury.

Farid Khan, 35 years, who was accused of raping a local girl was pulled out from the heavily fortified central jail in Dimapur and lynched by the furious mob.
Several thousands of people stormed into the central jail located at 4th Mile, Dimapur at around 3 pm after over powering the state forces manning the jail. The mob pulled out the accused, stripped him before he was dragged after tying him by the waist for about seven kilometers. By the time they reached Dimapur’s landmark City Tower at around 5 pm he was already dead.

At the Central Jail the people mostly students attempted to search for the accused but the security force personnel foiled this move of the mob. The security force personnel resorted to blank firing and shelling of tear gas to control the infuriated students. Dimapur deputy commissioner along with his officials and Dimapur superintendent of police visiting the Central Jail tried to pacify and convince the students but to no avail.
Minutes later the mob managed to find the rape accused in the jail. They took him out and stripped him, tied him by the waist and dragged along the national highway towards the town. As the angry people dragged him they also kicked and thrashed him. Farid Khan died before reaching City Tower. But his lifeless body was continued to be dragged till City Tower.
At that moment the security force personnel in large number rushed towards the spot and seized the dead body of Farid Khan. There, the mob and the security force personnel engaged in fierce confrontations. The security personnel resorted to tear gas shelling and blank firing. The mob returned with heavy stone pelting. In the melee five persons got injured.
Earlier in the morning, defying the 144 CrPC promulgated by the administration since the previous evening, a rally was held under the aegis of the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) at City Tower.
The second day rally was participated by thousands of students and members of civil society organizations. The rally witnessed thousands of people with college students in their uniforms, mwomen folk in their traditional attires and senior citizens.
Representatives from various colleges and organizations spoke during the rally which was followed by a protest march towards the DMC office for submitting the memorandum demanded by the protestors.
After a short interaction with the DMC officials the mob marched towards the Central Jail.
It is worth noting that with the rape-accused also alleged to be a Bangladeshi, the incident also triggered anger against alleged Bangladeshi infiltrators. The state is already facing agitations for the past two weeks demanding detection and ouster of suspected Bangladeshi infiltrators.
It can be noted here that the district administration had imposed curfew in the town on Wednesday after a group of people took out a protest rally against the rape.
However, that failed to deter the people from marching to the central jail.
Police fired in the air to deter the mob, but the mob tore down the gate, dragged the accused to the tower and beat him up severely, that ultimately led to his death.
Police, who were outnumbered by the ever-swelling mob, again fired blanks to disperse the crowd and also to retrieve the body. This infuriated the mob and they pelted stones and burnt down the vehicles.

Over ten vehicles including a police bus was torched by the angry mob in the heart of the town during the mob-security force confrontation.

Inito, 25 years, s/o Shiviha, presently residing at 4th Mile, Dimapur succumbed to his injuries at Nikos Hospital at 7:20 pm, according to a doctor. He was rushed to the hospital at 7:5 pm with two bullet injuries—one in left chest and the other in right chest.
So far four people who sustained bullet injuries have been identified. They are Olivito, 18 years, Parul, John Patton, 30 years and Khukavi, 31 years. All of them are being treat at Nikos Hospital. Reports said scores of people are being also treated at Civil Hospitals. One of the injured is at ICU in Zion Hospital, reports said.