The public lynching of a rape accused in Dimapur on March 5, discussions and pictures of which have gone viral on the internet, was to say the least ghastly. While lynching of rapists and other such despicable criminals are nothing new amongst many communities in the Northeast, not the least those in Manipur, certain circumstances have made the Dimapur case uniquely controversial. First, the man lynched is a Bengali speaking non-local Muslim, derogatorily and sweepingly referred to `Miya`™ in Nagaland. Second, the man, who was already in police custody for the crime that he allegedly committed on February 24, was actually dragged out of a high security jail by the mob demanding his blood. Third, the rape victim, a 20 year old college student, is a Naga, rightly or wrongly giving the crime a different hue in the eyes of many observers. Third, the show of extraordinary and frightening bloodlust of the mob so evident in all the pictures would have provoked disgust in anybody, even those who believe rapists deserve the death penalty. Practically everybody in the mob seemed to have their mobile phones out to gleefully click pictures of the humiliated, naked, blood-soaked man as he was being crucified against a steel fence at a public place. It did not seem like just a spontaneous outpouring of anger at the crime the man allegedly committed, but a savage orgy of bloodletting.
Quite understandably and justifiably, most of the commentaries on the incident in the newspapers and televisions, as well as on the uncharted territory of the social media, have been one of condemnation, however, perhaps because of the shocking and brutal nature of the crime, most tended to attribute reasons which are often only half truths. As for instance, would the lynching have been spared if it was not a Miya who was the rape accused, as many speculated would have been the case? To this we would say, probably not. Only five months earlier, on September 20, another rape accused, Ibobi Singh, a Manipuri carpenter was lynched in Meluri in Phek district of Nagaland. The news was published in this newspaper too. There was absolutely no show of public outrage anywhere, not even in Manipur, and indeed, not even by the family of the man. It was as if everybody believed the person earned his fate. What if the accused was a Naga? Again, probably he would not have been spared, but probably he would have had better chances of slipping away under clan protection, invocations of customary laws etc. The crowd too would probably have not been driven to the extent of breaking into a jail to bay for his blood. No doubt about it that there were strong elements of xenophobic and racial hatred involved, but this was not all there was. But then, to indulge in a little self analysis, for somebody in Manipur or Nagaland or much of the rest of the Northeast, where such gory enactments of brutal justice are routine, the instinctual understanding of these public responses, would probably be somewhat different.
The xenophobia against outsiders in the Northeast must be addressed. The danger of incidents such as the Dimapur lynching is, the universal disgusts provoked often have lead to a reverse desensitisation and therefore equating of these hate crimes with other race crimes, which we contend are similar only in form but not in substance. As for instance, the fear of population influx in the Northeast is an existential concern, perhaps a little exaggerated but all the same real, and is not at all the same as the race crimes against Northeasterners in places like Delhi, driven not by any sense of survival endangerment but by a misplaced sense of racial superiority. We therefore join the chorus of condemnations of the savage Dimapur lynching, and call for booking of those who led the murderous mob. But we also call on all not to let the incident blur visions on other crucial issues, such as the Northeast region`™s fear of demographic marginalisation. Let the Dimapur incident be also a grim reminder to those spearheading anti migrant movements not to whip up paranoia amongst the people, already and unfortunately suffering from a dangerous sense of siege, lest there are similar explosions of dark murderous emotions.
Leader Writer: Pradip Phanjoubam