18 arrested in India after mob lynches rape suspect

Police charged 18 people March 8 after a frenzied mob stormed a prison and lynched a rape suspect in India's northeast, in an act of vigilante justice condemned by rights groups and political leaders.
      
Police arrested the men for rioting in Nagaland state, but it was unclear if they were directly involved in stripping and beating to death Syed Farid Khan, whose body was then strung up to a clock tower on Thursday.
      
Tensions had been rising in Dimapur city ahead of the incident after Bengali-speaking Khan was arrested on February 24 for allegedly raping a 19-year-old tribal woman multiple times.
      
"So far we have arrested 18 people for rioting and unlawful assembly," Inspector General of Police, Wabang Jamir, told AFP.
      
"We are now verifying if besides being part of the mob they were also directly involved in the lynching," Jamir said by phone from Dimapur, 1,660 kilometres (1,030 miles) east of New Delhi.        

"We have already identified many more people (for arrest) from videos and photos (of the incident on social media)," he added.
      
Hundreds of riot police have been patrolling the streets of Dimapur district since the incident amid heightened tensions. Jamir said mobile phone and internet restrictions remained in place but a round-the-clock curfew would be partially lifted.
      
The lynching comes as India is in the midst of a raging controversy over a government order to ban the broadcast of a documentary about the December 2012 fatal gang-rape of a young student in New Delhi.
      
India has seen an outpouring of anger over frightening levels of violence against women since the 2012 attack, which sparked shock both within India and around the world.
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