In fact, growing anger against rapists and inherent hatred towards the ‘illegal Bangladeshi migrants’ in Nagaland took an ugly turn on 5 March 2015, when an irate mob lynched a rape accused after dragging the ‘non-local’ from the high security Dimapur central jail. The 5,000 strong crowd paraded the under trial naked and then thrashed him to death in broad day light in full public view. The victim was a 35 year old Bengali Muslim businessman named Sharifuddin Khan, who hailed from Karimganj locality of Assam. Khan used to stay in the commercial hub of Nagaland for many years and he had a Naga wife with a minor baby. He was blamed for raping a Naga college girl on the night of 23 February, following which Khan was subsequently arrested by the Nagaland police and sent to the judicial custody by a lower court.Initially a protest rally against the rape incident was organized on 5 March by Naga Students’ Federation and Western Sumi Hoho at the clock tower point of Dimapur, where thousands representing civil society groups, non-governmental organizations, students’ community assembled.

Khan’s family members reiterated that they were ‘not Bangladeshi infiltrators’, but residents of Barak valley. The villagers from Bosla village in Karimganj district, which shares a porous border with Bangladesh, claimed that one of Khan’s brothers was working in the Indian Army. They also informed that his father was also a military employee.

 

Representatives from Survival Nagaland, Naga People’s Front, Naga Women Hoho, Nagaland Alliance for Children & Women, Citizens Forum etc condemned the incident and most of them demanded death penalty for the rapist. They also raised voices against the outsiders (read non-Naga) to be driven out from Nagaland as ‘they were involved in various anti-social and criminal activities’. Soon after the rally the agitators marched towards the office of Dimapur deputy commissioner to insist on most stringent punishments to the rape accused. Some of the agitators even demanded the district magistrate to hand over ‘the culprit’ to them for awarding death penalty. The district magistrate Wezope Kenye politely refused to fulfill the demand and requested the agitators to submit their memorandum. The angry crowd didn’t listen to him and started moving to the Dimapur prison, where Khan was detained. The protestors termed the rape accused as an illegal migrant from Bangladesh and decided to ‘punish’ him for the crime.Unconfirmed source claimed that the mob wanted to hang Khan ‘alive’ in the clock tower junction as an ‘instant justice’ to the rape victim girl, but he succumbed to injuries on the way. Khan’s blood-soaked body was fastened in the fence for the public view until the authority used force to recover the deceased. A round-the-clock curfew was immediately imposed in the Dimapur locality to contain the law & order situation. Few incidents of clashes between the mob and the police were also reported where over 10 vehicles were burnt down by the unruly protesters. They also vandalized many shops in Dimapur belonging to non-Naga businessmen. Some ten protesters received bullet injuries in the police firing where one of them (later identified as Inito Swu) died in the hospital.The brutal murder of the rape accused shocked the conscience of the people in general and it was debated in the political sphere of India. The issue was discussed in Indian Parliament too. Earlier, reacting sharply to the lynching of Khan, the Union home minister Rajnath Singh sought a report from the Naga government. It was the second incident where an alleged rapist was beaten to death in Nagaland. Few months back, the rape accused was killed at Meluri town of Nagaland’s Phek district, where the victim was alleged to rape and subsequently kill the girl.Various Assam based organisations demonstrated their anger against the Nagaland government for its utter failure to protect the under trail inmate and urged the local authorities to uphold the rule of law. Similarly Nagaland based civil society groups including Nagaland Baptist Church Council condemned the incident and demanded that the members of the mob that lynched Khan in Dimapur must be brought to justice urgently. Terming the incident as a serious lapse in the criminal justice system, the Amnesty International India pointed out that the violence against women needs to be tackled with swift and effective responses from the state, but not with ‘barbarism by self-appointed vigilantes’. The Kohima based State government led by TR Zeliang had already recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the incident. Earlier it instituted a high-level probe into the incident to find out ‘the lapses or shortcomings on the part of any public servant in connection with the incident and the persons responsible for the violence leading to the death of the inmate’. The authority also blocked the internet, sms/mms services in Nagaland for some days to prevent indiscriminate uploading of horrific visuals of the fateful event. Meanwhile, the Naga government suspended the Dimapur central jail superintendent B. Chuba Phom, district magistrate Wezope Kenye & superintendent of police Meren Jamir for their failure in tackling the situation that led to the lynching of an inmate. Nearly 50 people were arrested for their suspected roles in the shameful incident. The Nagaland chief minister also called his Assam counterpart Tarun Gogoi assuring all necessary actions against the perpetrators who killed Khan, a resident of Assam’s Barak valley. Earlier Assam chief minister Gogoi termed the incident as barbaric & inhuman and commented that ‘no one could take law unto their hands and stern action must be taken against those involved in the heinous crime’. Gogoi also added that the ‘crime committed by the youth (read Khan) was equally condemnable’ but the law should have taken its own course. Nagaland, which is home to a number of tribes, remained a troubled State since its inclusion to the Indian territories after its liberation in 1947 from the British colonial forces. By 1960 Nagaland was recognized as a full-fledged State of India. All the separatist militants are now in ceasefire with the government that enhances a borrowed peace in the region.Naga is a divided nation, where there is a sizable population of Naga people in Burma (now known as Myanmar) too.

It was the second incident where an alleged rapist was beaten to death in Nagaland. Few months back, the rape accused was killed at Meluri town of Nagaland’s Phek district, where the victim was alleged to rape and subsequently kill the girl

The Naga people in India often avoid identifying themselves as Indians (rather Nagas). Once there was a strong separatist armed movement demanding an independent Nagalim (Greater Nagaland) comprising the present Nagaland with some adjacent areas of neighboring Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and also from northern Burma.“Whenever such incidents take place, where often the irate mob breaks the law, many try to argue that it happened because of the country’s slow judicial proceedings. But here in the case of Dimapur incident, the rape accused was swiftly arrested by the police and was also lodged in the prison for the trial,” said a non-Naga resident of Kohima.Speaking to this writer from the hill city, who wanted anonymity, the middle-aged resident also admitted that the crowd lost its logic to enter the jail, psychologically overpowering the security forces on duty and later killed the rape accused in a brutal manner, where many clicked mobile photographs of the blood-soaked face of the victim and even posted them in alternate media. “The rape accused was neither getting any special patronage behind nor he was acquitted abruptly which might have irked the mob. Moreover it was not the only incident of rape reported in Nagaland. The most important point here is that Khan was an outsider (Bengali-speaking Muslim) who dared to rape a local Naga (Christian) girl ! So the sentiment was high to teach the outsiders a lesson,” added the middle-aged Kohima resident. But Khan’s family members reiterated that they were ‘not Bangladeshi infiltrators’, but residents of Barak valley. The villagers from Bosla village in Karimganj district, which shares a porous border with Bangladesh, claimed that one of Khan’s brothers was working in the Indian Army. They also informed that his father was also a military employee. Various eastern Indian States, which are adjacent to Bangladesh, face today the burden of illegal migration from the poverty stricken populous country, which has over 80 % Mulsim population. Nagaland, which has a total population of 20,00,000, is a Christian dominated tribal State.The tiny State has a sizable Muslim families living mostly in Kohima and Dimapur. Many male illegal Bangladeshi migrants are understood to have marital relationship with the Naga girls. Now the Nagaland’s indigenous tribal groups are accusing the growing population of Bangladeshi Muslims for their new found crisis of land & resources. Even Nagaland Governor PB Acharya admitted that the inherent force behind the fateful Dimapur incident was the frustration because of illegal Bangladeshi families in different parts of Nagaland. The Governor however denied that the spirit was guided by the religious feelings. He also agreed that the influx of Bangladeshis to the region in particular should be tackled amicably. Naga Students’ Federation in a latest statement highlighted the insecurity of Naga people in their own land. The influential outfit asserted that the Nagaland government ‘should have strong political will to come out with a strong legislation to effectively tackle the IBIs (read illegal Bangladeshi immigrants) menace’. It also urged the Naga people not to employ IBIs in any nature of work and harbour them under any circumstances. Amazingly a nationalist Indian party (Shiv Sena) virtually justified the lynching of the rape accused in Nagaland.