home ministry alerts state governments of possible attacks on northeast people

New Delhi: In the aftermath of lynching of a rape accused in Dimapur, the Union Home Ministry is expecting a backlash against people from the Northeast region living in Bengaluru, Pune and Gurgaon. The ministry has asked the concerned state governments to ensure their security.

In an advisory, the Home Ministry today asked Karnataka, Maharashtra and Haryana governments to be fully alert and ensure security of northeast people. Home Ministry found that a misinformation campaign about the Dimapur incident was going on in social media.

"We suspect that the social media is being used by some anti-social elements to create tension and instigate people to attack people of northeast origin in the three cities," a Home Ministry official said justifying the issuing of the advisory.

The Centre also asked the states to deploy adequate security forces in places where sizeable number of northeast people live and roam around in these cities.

The activities in social media have been witnessed after Syed Sarif Khan aka Farid Khan, who was accused of raping a girl, was lynched by a mob after being dragged out from a jail in Dimapur.

The mob stripped Khan naked, beat him up, pelted him with stones and dragged him towards the centre of Dimapur town, seven kilometres away from the jail. He died from his injuries on the way after which the mob displayed his body from a clock tower.

In a report sent to Home Ministry today, Nagaland government said that the accused did not rape the Naga girl and they had consensual sex. Khan even paid the girl Rs 5,000 after sex.

Thousands of northeast origin people living in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and other cities had fled their place of work and study in August 2012 after rumours of possible attacks on them in the wake of clashes between Bodo tribals and immigrant Muslims in Assam that year.

(With inputs from PTI)

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