On Thursday, 5th of March, 2015,
thousands of people stormed into the Central Jail of Dimapur, Nagaland, and
dragged out an alleged rapist. The victim was thrashed to the extent that he
could not survive after the incident.
Now it has come to light after investigations have revealed that there were social media posts on Muslims being attacked and mosques being ransacked which originated from outside Nagaland but some way or the other, got into the network of the Naga people and hence, became a serious issue.
On Friday morning, 6th of March, the hashtag
#Nagaland was trending on Twitter as many expressed shock at the incident. The
police in Nagaland's Dimapur town have arrested 21 people since Saturday night
in connection with the lynching of rape accused Syed Farid Khan. The district
administration imposed total curfew until Sunday midnight and mobile and
internet services were jammed for 48 hours to check the spread of hate
messages.
Now the question is, why did the people reacted in such an
extreme manner? Whether it was only due to the fact that the person was accused
of rape, or because the people believed that he was an illegal immigrant, or was
it because of both these factors or is there any kind of a political motive
behind this, a motive of interest of a strong political personality who could
have influenced a large mass of the population of Dimapur to take such a
drastic step?
Riddhiman Sharma
Msc.Media || PG:1
Syed Farid Khan, who was a second hand
car dealer was sent to jail when he was accused of raping a Naga girl on the 23rd
of February, this year. He was also suspected to be an illegal immigrant from
Bangladesh.
As it is, this episode of rape had stirred the
emotions of the locals of Dimapur, Nagaland.
On the other hand, the people of Dimapur had been voicing out their opinions regarding illegal immigrants coming into their land and their agenda against immigrants slowly started getting recognition. And it so happened that the rape – accused, by virtue of being a non – tribal, jointly faced the consequences of the wrath of the locals whose emotions were stirred because of the rape incident and the people who were against illegal immigration .
On the other hand, the people of Dimapur had been voicing out their opinions regarding illegal immigrants coming into their land and their agenda against immigrants slowly started getting recognition. And it so happened that the rape – accused, by virtue of being a non – tribal, jointly faced the consequences of the wrath of the locals whose emotions were stirred because of the rape incident and the people who were against illegal immigration .
Because of the massacre outside the
central jail, several people were also injured when the police tried to get the
situation under control by means of lathi charge and then by open firing.
Relating to this incident, some people
vandalised shops belonging to alleged illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. Following
attempts to set a shop on fire, the police were forced to bring up Sec 144 so
that the people could be controlled.
Now it has come to light after investigations have revealed that there were social media posts on Muslims being attacked and mosques being ransacked which originated from outside Nagaland but some way or the other, got into the network of the Naga people and hence, became a serious issue.
The true motive behind this
entire event can come out only if proper investigation is carried out. As we
can see, many areas of concern pertaining to this issue is vague and there are
no proper or concrete information as to what triggered the emotions of the locals
in this extreme manner, because the lynching of the accused is closely related
to issue of illegal immigrants and this issue can possibly be under some kind
of a political motive. Only time will tell why this happened. We can only
speculate at this moment.
Riddhiman Sharma
Msc.Media || PG:1
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