Morung Express News
Dimapur | May 31
Rare is a case when footwear comes to the rescue of the police in tracking down suspects. And rarer when suspects are detained at random on the basis of matching slippers found at the scene of an incident. Rare or not, it happens.
It was May 30, the time around 8:30 pm. The location was a two-storied residential building near the NST AGM’s office in Dimapur, where mostly college-going boys reside as tenants. As described by one of the boys, who landed up in a police lock-up on suspicion of theft, three policemen led by a sub-inspector (on probation) entered the building, reportedly with the intent of questioning the tenants with regard to a bike theft, which was said to have occurred the previous night at the house next door. One was in civvies, it was added.
The policemen first went about questioning the tenants and eventually rounded up ten men, most of whom were students. Having lined them up in the front courtyard, the policemen presented two pairs of slippers. All of them were asked to try the slippers on. Unfortunately for three of the lads, the slippers matched their foot-size. Two of them were students, while the third an autorickshaw driver.
According to one of the boys, whose foot-size matched the slippers’, three of them were taken to West police station, where they were put to further questioning and more trials with the slippers.
Nearly three hours of questioning later with regard to the bike theft, the three were released, but not before signing release ‘bonds’.
“We had no idea on the contents of the ‘bonds’... we were only made to sign,” said the boy. They were then driven back to their house by the same policemen who had taken them to the police station. It was around 11:30 pm, he added.
The drama was however not to end there. Another student, a tenant residing on the second floor, was picked up and taken to the police station. The student, doing his BA in Dimapur Government College, said that he was also made to try the slippers on. In his case, the slippers did not match his foot-size. But unfortunately for him too, he had to endure some beating as he was interrogated. “I was beaten with sticks while they quizzed me on a bike theft, of which I had no idea,” said the 20-year old boy displaying bruises. He was mostly hit on the arms and legs, he said.
He said that he was detained the whole night and released only in the morning at around 7:30 am after signing a release ‘bond’. Of the slippers, which they were made to try on: they were reportedly found at the place from where the bike went missing.
