Rape accused dragged out of prison, stripped naked and beaten to death

A rape suspect was forced out of a jail and lynched by a mob in northeastern India, local reports said, with anger raging over the high rate of sexual violence in the country.

The man, who stood accused of raping a woman multiple times and was arrested on February 24, was dragged out of the prison in Nagaland state before being beaten to death and strung up, according to media reports.

"A mass protest rally against the rape was held at Dimapur (Nagaland's main commercial town) this morning after which students and angry people forced into the district jail and managed to pull out the accused," the Press Trust of India news agency said.

Another report said that the crowd started marching towards the jail from a location almost seven kilometres (four miles) away.

The Hindustan Times newspaper said the crowd "tore down two gates and took custody" of the suspect, before dragging him to the town's landmark clock tower.

The suspect was then stripped naked, beaten and his body was strung up to the tower, the newspaper said.

...Aljazeera