Lynching: ‘Rape victim’s father didn’t instigate mob’

SHILLONG: The Thangkhiew (Lai kpoh) clan has clarified that Bansharai Thangkhiew, father of an 11-year-old rape victim, did not instigate locals to beat up the rapist in Upper Shillong on Saturday.
The alleged rapist, Yaqub Khan Nongkynrih, succumbed to injuries on Sunday.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, Livingstone Thangkhiew, member of the Dorbar kur, said, “It is not true that Nongkynrih died in Bansharai Thangkhiew’s house. They did not take the law in their hands. The brother (of the girl) and the father are not involved in the crime.”
Both the father and the brother of the minor victim were arrested on Sunday in connection with the lynching.
Livingstone said the girl’s family locked Nongkynrih inside his room to save him from mob fury.
“We called the police and informed the locality head. There were five police personnel, four males and a female,” he said and added that the public was uncontrollable.
Bansharai Thangkhiew was hospitalised recently and Livingstone urged the police to allow them to meet him.
Livingstone showed a video of Nongkynrih being taken outside by the public that mostly included women folks and reiterated that the lynching did not take place in Bansharai’s home.