GAUHATI: Around 1,000 people dragged two suspects out of a police station and beat them to death in anger after the rape and killing of a 5-year-old girl in India’s remote northeast, police said Tuesday.
Fifteen police officers were injured in Monday’s mob attack in Tezu, a town in Arunachal Pradesh state, said police officer Apur Bitin.
Bitin said the mob first demanded that the two accused be handed over to them. They later dragged the two out of the police jail cell and attacked them and the heavily outnumbered police.
The girl was raped and killed in the nearby village of Namgo on Feb. 12. The region is 375 kilometres (235 miles) northeast of Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh.
Pema Khandu, the state’s top elected official, ordered a magistrate to investigate the matter.
Violent crime against women has been on the rise in India despite tough laws enacted by the government.
