In yet another case of street justice, a youth accused of murder was brutally thrashed by an angry mob after snatching him from police custody in Bihar's Hajipur, about 25 km from Patna on Saturday.
The thrashing took place in the presence of the police.
Ravi Kumar, a student in his 20s, who first stabbed to death his own friend Om Prakash over a minor dispute of a cell phone set at Pokhra locality in Hajipur, was thrashed by the mob after snatching him from police custody.
Ravi was admitted to Sadar hospital, Hajipur, and later shifted to the Patna Medical College and Hospital for treatment after his condition deteriorated.
The seriously injured Ravi is battling for his life in hospital.
Bihar Police Chief A R Sinha said six police officials, including the officer in charge of police station were suspended in this connection.
Some eyewitnesses said police officials, instead of rescuing the victim, remained mute spectators.
According to sources in the Hajipur district administration, Ravi stabbed to death his friend Om Prakash after a heated exchange of words over a dispute related to a cell phone set.
Later, he was taken into custody by police. A group of people gathered outside police station to which Ravi was taken. They snatched him from the police and started beating him with bamboo sticks and bricks.
"Ravi fell on the ground, but they beat him till he become unconscious and his head was smashed by two bricks," sources said.
This incident has come as an embarrassment for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who claims to have brought 'sushasan' or good governance to Bihar.
But it was not the first in last few days. In a case of vigilante justice, a mob lynched an alleged rapist in a village in Saran district on Tuesday.
Karia Sah, in his 20s, the alleged rapist, was lynched by a mob after a village girl told villagers that she was gangraped by three persons including Sah on the point of arms.
The mob also assaulted two other rapists Munna Mahto and Karia Raqi, who were identified by the rape victim.
Last week, three suspected thieves were lynched in Vaishali and Araria districts.
The worst lynching case was reported in September 2007 when 10 men from the underprivileged Kueri community in Vaishali district were beaten to death in an alleged theft case.
Later, a high-level probe conducted found that the men were not thieves as villagers had earlier suspected.
In August 2007 in Nathnagar town in Bhagalpur, a youth was thrashed by a mob and brutally tortured by police for allegedly snatching a woman's gold chain.