The two rape accused were stripped, dragged through the streets and beaten to death. The two rape accused were stripped, dragged through the streets and beaten to death.

Two men accused of raping a minor were dragged out of a police station in Arunachal Pradesh’s Lohit district and lynched by a mob, police said on Tuesday.

The two were arrested on charges of rape and murder of a five-year-old girl at Namgo village. The mob had barged into Tezu police station and overpowered the police personnel, and pulled the accused, Sanjay Sobar and Jagdish Lohar, out of the lockup.

The two rape accused were then stripped, dragged through the streets and beaten to death, the police said.

Chief Minister Pema Khandu has ordered a police inquiry and also a magisterial probe into the incident. “We are citizens of a great country who abide by the law enshrined in the Constitution. Our laid down rules and regulations do not allow us to take the law in our hands,” Khandu said, appealing to the people to maintain peace.

The chief minister, who described the rape and the mob action as “barbaric and inhuman”, expressed solidarity with the family members of the minor.

Three police personnel, including the Tezu station in-charge, have been suspended and the SP was transferred, a press release said. Prohibitory orders have been imposed in Tezu township area following the mob lynching.

The five-year-old girl went missing on February 12. Her body was found near a tea garden, a few kilometres from the village, on Sunday. Police claimed the two men had confessed to the crime.

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