Tension continues over Dimapur lynching; SMS blockage extended

Dimapur, March 9
 Simmering tension continued on Monday in Nagaland's commercial hub of Dimapur where a mob broke into a jail and lynched a rape accused on March 5. Many 'non-local' people have temporarily left the town, while SMS and MMS services continued to be restricted in a bid to control spread of rumours on the social media.

Police on Monday said the preliminary medical examination of the woman, who had filed a rape complaint against the man, Syed Farid Khan, confirmed it was rape.

Elsewhere, the Dimapur district administration withdrew curfew restrictions imposed in the town from 6 a.m. till noon.

However, the administration imposed section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure prohibiting assembly of 10 or more people.

Though media reports earlier said Khan was an illegal Bangladeshi migrant, it was later found that he hailed from Badarpur town in Assam's Karimganj district. He belonged to a family of army men. While one of his brothers died in the Kargil war, another brother is still serving in the army's Assam regiment.

The government on Monday extended for two more days the restriction of SMS and MMS services through which, the police believe, the March 5 violence was instigated.

Nagaland Police has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the case and arrested 43 people so far for their involvement in the mob violence in which rape accused Khan was lynched.

"The process of identification of the key people in the mob is on. So far, we have arrested 43 people, including some of people who led the mob," said Nagaland's Additional Director General of Police A. Sema.

He said police were examining the video footage to identify more people.

Sema said the preliminary medical examination of the woman confirmed she had been raped.

"The medical examination report is very conclusive and confirmed it to be rape and there are signs of resistance," he said.

Though the woman had filed the rape complaint against Khan on February 24, his family members have been claiming that there was no rape and that Khan was framed.

The simmering tension in the town has led many non-local businessmen to temporarily leave for their homes in Assam.

"Many people have left Dimapur temporarily due to the tension. There is a fear psychosis," said A. Rahman, working president of the Muslim Council of Dimapur, the apex body of the religious minority in the town.

Rahman, however, said there has been no threat to anyone.

"It was a big incident but there is no threat now. However, people have left the place due to fear psychosis after such a brutal incident," he said, adding that it may take some time for the situation to return to normal.

Some people blamed it on the recent agitation in the northeast region against illegal Bangladeshi migrants.

"The locals have been agitating against illegal Bangladeshi migrants. The state and central governments have complicated the situation by not taking up steps to stop infiltration from Bangladesh. Now the locals suspect most of the Bengali-speaking Muslims to be illegal Bangladeshi migrants," said Badal Rai, a Dimapur-based trader.

Rai, who hails from Hojai in Assam, said Syed Farid Khan "fell victim to the people's anger against Bangladeshi migrants".

"There has been a massive campaign against the rape on social media and most of the posts on social media termed Khan as an 'IBI', an acronym that stands for 'illegal Bangladeshi immigrant'," he said.

Another trader said some local people had started a campaign called 'Survival Nagaland' to drive out illegal Bangladeshi migrants from the state.

Although there has been no major study to ascertain the number of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Nagaland, various sections believe that over two lakh Bangladeshis are living there.

Since Nagaland is not connected either by land or water to Bangladesh, people believe that the migrants come to the state via Assam after obtaining fraudulent documents like voter identity card and driving licence from places in Assam like Karimganj, Nagaon, Golaghat and Sibsagar.

The locals also believe that the cosmopolitan nature of Dimapur makes the identification and detection of Bangladeshis a highly arduous task.


The fifth day of the budget session of the Assam legislative assembly on Monday witnessed noisy scenes over the lynching of a rape accused in Nagaland's Dimapur town.

The problem started after some of the opposition members raised concerns over former Assam minister and Congress legislator Siddeque Ahmed's statement that he had prior information that the mob will break into the jail in Dimapur and kill the rape accused and that he had informed Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi about this on the morning of March 5.

Ahmed had on Sunday said that he had informed the chief minister and requested him to take up the matter with the Nagaland government.

However, the chief minister negated the possibility of such an incident and ignored the matter, Ahmed had alleged.

The former Border Area Development minister, who was dropped from the Gogoi cabinet last year for anti-party activities, also alleged that the victim could have been saved had the chief minister taken up the matter with the neighbouring state.

The opposition MLAs demanded a clarification from the government over the statement of Siddeque Ahmed.

"Ahmed is a Congress legislator and he has said that he had informed about the matter to chief minister several hours before the lynching...We want to know the truth. If he had informed the chief minister, then why did the chief minister not take up the matter," said AIUDF legislator Rafikul Islam.

AGP legislator Padma Hazarika demanded a statement by the government on the issue. "Ahmed is a Congress legislator and he has brought the allegation against the government run by his party. We must take it seriously and inquire into the matter," Hazarika said while demanding a statement from the government.

Assam government spokesman Rockybul Hussain, however, said there is no need for a statement as the government had taken all necessary steps over the incident.

"This is a sensitive matter and the Opposition is trying to politicize the issue," he said.

Assembly Speaker Pranab Gogoi, however, ruled that the government should write to the central government to verify whether there was any prior information about the jail break incident and subsequent killing of Syed Farid Khan, the rape accused.

"The Centre must find out if there is any truth in Ahmed's statement and if there is no truth, action should be taken against him by the state government," the speaker ruled.

Meanwhile, the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) has served a show-cause notice to Ahmed seeking an explanation for his statement.

The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has also served a show-cause notice to the legislator asking him to explain his position within three days, failing which the party might initiate disciplinary action against him.