MPs question Nagaland govt's role in Dimapur lynching

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Sharad Yadav expressed concern over people taking law into their own hands and punishing the accused and said that 'institutions are breaking down'

The lynching of a rape accused by a mob in Dimapur reverberated in Rajya Sabha today with members questioning the manner in which a mob was allowed to pull out the man from the prison, paraded and lynched.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Sharad Yadav (JD-U) wondered whether the Nagaland government was "sleeping" when a mob of about 10,000 persons gathered and did this.

He expressed concern over people taking law into their own hands and punishing the accused and said that "institutions are breaking down".

The JD-U leader also said that government should respond suo motu on such issues.

The rape accused Syed Farid Khan had allegedly raped a Naga woman and was arrested on February 25. Infuriated by the alleged rape, the mob had forced its way into the Dimapur Central Jail on Thursday last, pulled him out of the prison and paraded him naked before lynching him.

Yadav also flagged his concerns on the issue of women's safety and incidents of rape even in the Northeast where disparity between men and women was considered relatively lesser than in other parts of the country.

A number of members from Northeast associated with Yadav's views. Pankaj Bora (Congress) demanded a CBI probe into the incident and rued that no action was taken by the central government even as the jail was protected by the CRPF.

Naznil Faruque (Congress) attacked BJP and RSS accusing them of dubbing all Muslims in Northeast as Bangladeshis. Motilal Vora (Congress) also expressed concerns on the issue.

Majeed Memon (NCP) said the incident in Dimapur unacceptable and resuch instances reflected the prevalence of anarchy.

In another Zero Hour mention, CPI-M's P Rajeeve spoke of the "poor plight" of journalists in television news channels and "non-implementation" of wage board provisions there.

He alleged that while the managements in "most of the news organizations are not ready to implement Wage Board recommendations, some have restructured the Dearness Allowance in order to deny them the benefits."

Rajeeve demanded urgent intervention by the Government in the matter.