Headlines
No arrest yet in Dimapur lynching case; victim's body reaches Assam
Dimapur/Guwahati, March 7
The Nagaland
government is yet to make any arrest in connection with Thursday's
incident when a mob broke into Dimapur's high-security central jail and
killed a rape accused in full public view.
A Nagaland Police
official in Dimapur said efforts were on to identify those involved in
the killing of Syed Farid Khan and that they would be brought to book
soon.
The Nagaland authorities Saturday handed over the body of
Khan to his family in Khatkhati area on the Assam-Nagaland border.
Later, his body was taken to his native village in Assam's Karimganj
district.
Tension has gripped Badarpur area in the district after
the arrival of the body as the people are agitated over the brutal
killing. There was, however, no untoward incident reported from the
area.
Khan's brother Jamal Uddin Khan, claimed that his brother
was framed in the rape case as the medical examination of the girl, who
alleged rape, indicated that there had been no sexual assault.
Syed
Farid Khan, a 35-year-old second hand car dealer, was accused of raping
a 20-year-old Naga woman on February 23 and 24 at different locations.
Police arrested Khan on February 25 and a lower court sent him to
judicial custody.
Khan was dragged out of the jail by an angry
mob, paraded naked and then thrashed to death on Thursday, forcing the
authorities to clamp curfew in Dimapur district.
A Nagaland
Police official said "The situation has improved but we have decided to
continue the curfew in Dimapur. There have been adequate deployment of
forces in and around the town to ensure that there is no backlash."
Meanwhile,
the Nagaland and Assam governments put the forces on alert to ensure
security to all the non-locals living in both the states.
Assam
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi asked police and other security forces to be
alert and said no non-locals should feel insecure due to what happened
in Dimapur.
Gogoi Saturday blamed the central government for the
incident in Dimapur and said the security in the jail was under the
central forces, who failed to stop the lynching.
"It is the centre which is responsible for ensuring the security of the inmates," he said.
The
Assam chief minister has also written to union Home Minister Rajnath
Singh to ensure that proper action was taken against those responsible
for the lynching.
He also appealed to Nagaland Governor P.B.
Acharya (who is also holding charge of Assam) to take necessary action
to ensure that the guilty were booked and punished.
Several
organisations in Assam, including the All Minority Students' Union,
Saturday held demonstrations at different places in the state to protest
against the brutal killing.
Nagaland Chief Minister T.R.
Zeliang on Friday suspended deputy commissioner and superintendent of
police of Dimapur district for their failure to tackle the situation.