Civil society cries out against alleged rape in Dimapur

EMN
Dimapur, March 5

Organizations representing various communities in Nagaland have denounced the recent alleged rape of a Naga student in Dimapur.
CNTC and CNSA
The Central Nagaland Tribal Council and Central Nagaland Students’ Association have denounced the alleged rape of a girl by an alleged illegal Bangladeshi immigrant Sayed Sirf Khan, on the night of February 23. The girl was said to be a student of SD Jain Girls’ College in Dimapur. “While condemning the incident, the CNTC and CNSA appreciate the law enforcing agencies for taking swift action in apprehending the accused,” a note issued by the two organizations stated on Thursday.
The two organizations have demanded thorough investigation into the allegation “in order to prosecute the accused and award befitting punishment as per the provision of law.”
The CNTC and the CNSA also urged the judiciary not to “enlarge the accused on bail so as to facilitate the investigating agencies to probe the matter without any hindrances.”
NSF
The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) has strongly condemned “the brutal rape of yet another Naga girl” by an alleged Bangladeshi national in Dimapur.
The NSF leadership issued a statement on Thursday stating that “time and again Naga civil societies have raised concerns about the danger of harboring Illegal Bangladeshi Immigrants (IBIs) in our own home, giving them shelter and security.”
The NSF stated that because of “our obstinate attitude and relaxed nature, such heinous crime is being committed by the IBIs without any hesitation”.
Stating that the recent incident was not just a heinous crime but a direct challenge to the entire Naga community, the organization stated that “unless we act tough on these people, slowly but surely these people become masters our Nagas in our own land”.
The students’ organization has asked every Naga individual to realize the threat posed by the presence of people from Bangladesh. “Moreover government should have strong political will and come out with a strong legislation to seriously and effectively tackle the IBIs menace and government machineries should stringently implement and monitor the system to check the presence of IBIs and their activities,” the NSF stated.
The federation also maintained that Nagas should immediately stop employing Bangladeshi immigrants in any nature of work and should not harbor them under any circumstances.
“Naga people should stop relying on people of Bangladeshi origin; else sooner than later the time will come when Nagas will be fighting with the IBIs for our rights and identity in our indigenous land like other certain States in Northeast region and other parts of India,” the NSF stated in caution.
Demanding that the culprit should not be bailed out under any circumstances, the NSF strongly urged the district administration and police to award exemplary punishment to the culprit.
Dimasa public
The Dimasa Public Organization and Dimasa Women Welfare Society of Nagaland has strongly condemned the alleged rape of a local lady. The act perpetrated by the culprit is too daring and beyond tolerance of any local people, Dimasa Public Organization and Dimasa Women Welfare Society stated in a statement to the media.
“We demand severe punishment to the rapist by the fast tract court or handed over the rapist for judgment according to customary laws. We would stand by any strategy that may be initiated by the civil societies to tackle the menace of continuous influx of IBI in our state and also appeal not to rent houses or stalls for shop to those people to save our state from becoming hub of the IBIs,” the two organizations stated.
Mao Hoho
The Mao Hoho of Dimapur has also denounced “the heinous crime of rape committed to a Naga lady” by a person alleged to be an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant.
“Such inhuman crime committed is an insult to our society, our own brothers and sisters and to the humanity,” the Mao organization stated in a note issued to the media on Thursday.
The organization denounced the alleged crime in the strongest term “joining hands with all responsible citizens to fight against such crime against humanity with no mercy.”
Bhojpuri Samaj
The Nagaland Bhojpuri Samaj of Dimapur has also strongly condemned what it called the ‘barbaric incident’ that took place on February 24 “where one IBI committed rape with a local girl.”
“Such heinous crime is not at all acceptable in a civilized society. The NBS further appeals to the concerned authority to award the culprit with severe most punishment at the earliest,” the organization stated in a note issued on Thursday. The Nagaland Bhojpuri Samaj also expressed sympathy to the victim and her family.
WSTH
The Western Sumi Kukami Hoho has also expressed outrage at the alleged rape of a Naga woman by the stated Sayed Khan allegedly at various locations in Dimapur in February.
In a statement issued to the media, the leadership of the WSTH said that the incident was not the first time that an outsider had committed a heinous crime against Naga women.
“Such beastly acts should not be allowed to happen in Naga society and therefore WSKH is of the view that all section of Naga society should denounce the incident and ensure that most befitting and exemplary punishment is awarded to the culprit,” the organization of village community leaders stated.
Manik Bhattacharjee Foundation
Also another organization based in Dimapur, the Manik Bhattacharjee Foundation of Dimapur, expressed deep anguish and grief at what it called the “heinous and barbaric act of a culprit on February 24 night.” The organization issued a note on Thursday stating condemnation for the alleged crime.
“We, in the strongest term, condemn this act on an innocent girl and want that the entire society should raise its voice against such nefarious activities on any one irrespective of his/her background,” the Manik Bhattacharjee Foundation stated in its message.
“We also demand that the administration and the law-enforcing agencies should deal very strictly with the culprits and award befitting punishment, so that it would set an example to others, who have such mean attitude towards our mothers and sisters,” the organization stated.
“We once again appeal to all the right-thinking citizens of the land to damn such anti-social elements and their inhuman activities who are spoiling the congenial atmosphere of the civilized society.”
Sumi officers’ union
The Sumi Officers Union of Dimapur has also denounced the alleged rape. The union issued a note on March 5, condemning the alleged rape said to have been committed on February 24 by an alleged Bangladeshi national.
“It is very unfortunate to note that the Nagas are being treated in this manner by people who illegally immigrate, settle in our land, exploit our people and are now even going to the extent of raping our womenfolk,” the officers group stated in its message to the media.
The union has nonetheless lauded the initiative taken up by various nongovernmental organizations to flush out illegal immigrants from Dimapur and Nagaland ‘considering imminent dangers posed by illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in the present scenario and in the foreseeable near future.”
The officers’ union has asked the authorities to take stringent action against “the culprit and his accomplice.”
Others
Also, condemning the incident in strongest terms, a local nongovernmental organization called the Dream Foundation of Nagaland issued a note on Thursday stating that Naga people were no longer safe in their land.
“Naga people are not safe in our own homeland and to which, Naga people at large should wake up and address this alarming situation that is confronting the Naga society,” the nongovernmental organization stated.
The Dream Foundation of Nagaland has urged the people of the state to stand together and ‘fight for justice against the act of rape on Naga woman by an outsider.’