Congress MPs accuse Nagaland govt of failure to check lynching

The party said the central forces deployed at the jail failed to protect the accused

The issue of lynching of an alleged rapist in Dimapur today found echo in the Lok Sabha with Congress members from Assam dubbing the matter as a failure of the Nagaland government.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Gaurav Gogoi (Congress) slammed the Nagaland government for not making a statement on whether Khan was guilty of the crime and said he was not convicted by the court and had the rights of trial.

He said the central forces deployed at the jail failed to protect the accused.

Maintaining that the rape accused Syed Farid Khan was an Indian national and not a Bangladeshi as was claimed, Gogoi said Muslims in the region were being considered as Bangladeshis, though Khan hailed from a family of army men.

Sushmita Deo (Congress) expressed concern over the "racial profiling" of people in the Northeast and said it must stop.

Raman Deka (BJP) said when such incidents take place, there is a tendency among members of some communities to come together which gave the issue another dimension and added that such tendencies must be checked.

Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM) had raised the issue when opposition parties were demanding a statement from the government on the release of separatist Masrat Alam Bhat by the Jammu and Kashmir government.

Earlier, Bijoya Chakraborty (BJP) raised the issue of attacks on people from the northeast living in metros. She said in one incident when a person was attacked, he was called to the police station to make a statement though he was recuperating in a hospital.