World

3 Indian officials suspended after rape suspect is lynched amid concerns about mob justice

Associated Press
Published | Updated

In this Thursday, March 5, 2015 photo, members of a mob pull a man, centre with blooded face, accused of rape, out of the Central Jail where he was held in Dimapur, in the northeastern Indian state of Nagaland. Several thousand people overpowered security at Dimapur Central Prison in Nagaland on Thursday, and seized the rape suspect, whom they also accused of being an illegal migrant from Bangladesh. They pelted him with stones and beat him to death, said police Constable Sunep Aier. (AP Photo) (The Associated Press)

In this Thursday, March 5, 2015 photo, an unidentified girl runs in front of a car set on fire by a mob, during clashes with police following the lynching of a man accused of rape in Dimapur, India, in the northeastern Indian state of Nagaland. Several thousand people overpowered security at Dimapur Central Prison in Nagaland on Thursday, where they dragged away a man accused of rape and then lynched him, police said Friday. (AP Photo/Imojen I Jamir) (The Associated Press)

The government of northeastern India's Nagaland state has suspended three officials and deployed paramilitary soldiers two days after a mob stormed a high-security jail, dragged away a man accused of rape and then lynched him.

Police have launched a search for several men who mobilized thousands of people who broke into the jail in Dimapur city on Thursday and later beat the man to death.

The man had been arrested Feb. 24 on suspicion of raping a local woman.

Shops and businesses were closed in Dimapur on Saturday and paramilitary soldiers patrolled the city, which remained under curfew.

The killing of the rape suspect at the hands of a mob has caused concern across India, where there is increasing public anger over sexual violence against women.