As many as 22 people have been arrested in connection with the lynching incident in Dimapur even as the Nagaland Government has ordered a 48-hour Internet blackout in the State beginning Saturday night after videos related to the incident surfaced on the Net.
In Delhi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the situation. He called Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang and asked him to take strict action against culprits. Singh assured necessary assistance from the Centre.
While rape accused Syed Farid Khan’s body was buried at his native village near Badarpur in Assam’s Karimganj district amid tight security, a 12-hour bandh, called to protest the lynching paralysed normal life in three districts of Barak Valley in the State.
Thousands of people gathered as Khan was being buried. They shouted slogans against the Nagaland Government for its failure to contain the situation. However, no major untoward incident took place during the bandh. Khan’s brother has demanded a CBI probe into the incident.
Nagaland Inspector General of Police (IGP) W Jamir said that 22 people have been arrested so far by examining the video footage of the incident even as the police are working on to arrest some more people in the incident who broke into the Dimapur Central Jail and thrashed to death the rape accused.
The night curfew is also on in Dimapur. “There has been improvement in the situation but we have decided to enforce the night curfew from 3 pm to midnight. During the day time also we have enforced Section 144 of the CrPC banning assembly of ten or more people,” he said.
The Nagaland Government has blocked the SMS and MMS services in the State since Friday night in a move to control the social media, which played a role in instigating the mob for the violence on Thursday.
Zeliang had on Saturday expressed concerned over the misuse of the social media. Khan was even termed an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant living in the State.
Khan, a small time trader in Nagaland’s commercial hub Dimapur, was arrested by the police on February 25 after a girl lodged a rape complaint against him. The girl said that she was forced to drink alcohol by Khan and was then taken to a hotel where she was raped twice on February 23. She complained that Khan later gave her some money and asked her to remain silent. She, however, lodged the complaint on February 25.
But Khan’s borther Jamal Uddin Khan said that his brother was framed in the rape case and that the girl is known to his brother for a long time. He said that the medical examination of the girl also ruled out any physical assault on her.
Jamal further rued the fact that his brother has been termed as an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant and said that they are bonafide citizens of India. “We are not Bangladeshi. My brother is working for the Indian armed forces and our father too worked for the Indian Air force. My brother was termed as a Bangladeshi just because we are Bengali-speaking Muslims,” he said, while demanding a CBI probe into the whole incident.