Security personnel stand guard in Dimapur after the lynching. (Press Trust of India)
The mob that broke into a jail in Nagaland's Dimapur on March 5 encouraged prisoners to escape and that two insurgents had escaped in the chaos, a report by a senior prison official has said. The report has also said the mob had hours to carry out a methodical search to locate the rape-accused man, raising questions over the Nagaland government's claims that it could not prevent the storming of the prison as it had been sudden.
"In the later part of the evening, since no reinforcement of the security personnel came to restrain the frenzy agitators (sic) and to rescue and provide safe and enough security to the Jail, the agitators had ample opportunity to frisk the entire Jail building and its premises and at last located the main accused," read the report, filed by Dimapur Central Jail's Senior Superintendent B Chuba Phom, who has since been suspended.
<div id='ndtvrelcontent'>Mr Phom says in his report, filed the day after the incident, that officials of the district administration, police and state government had been informed as early as 11:30 am that the mob outside the jail intended to storm the prison to drag out Syed Sarif Uddin Khan, accused of raping a Naga woman.
Reinforcements did arrive by noon, but proved insufficient to hold the crowd out of the prison compound. Also, no further deployment of security forces had happened till 4:30 pm, when the mob finally found the rape-accused man.
The security personnel who were present were also restrained by their commanders from opening fire, after the crowd got agitated on seeing the jawans loading their rifles.
"Then they (the mob) started breaking the locks of prisoners wards and even vandalised the barracks and Jail properties. Some agitators were also heard encouraging the other prisoners to escape since the Jail had been broken wide open," read the report.
In the chaos, two insurgents who were being held under the stringent National Security Act escaped, the report has said. They belong to the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muviah), an insurgent outfit that controls parts of the state and is presently on a ceasefire agreement with the Centre.
The report also paints a picture of the mob's methodical search for the rape-accused man, saying his pictures were circulated on mobile phones when he was not found in an initial sweep. The whole process had taken hours. Once he had been found, he was stripped and dragged out of the jail and beaten to death.
Read the jail official's full report: