In yet another case of street justice, two suspected thieves were lynched by a mob in a Bihar village for allegedly stealing a pump set, police said on Thursday.
The victims, identified as Mahant Nat and Butan Nat were brutally beaten with bricks, stone and bamboo sticks, after was allegedly caught stealing a pump set in Pokhra vllage in Siwan district. Both victims belong to the poor Nat nomadic community.
"An angry mob caught them and beat them to death. One of the eyes of Mahant Nat was gouged out by mob," said police sources in Siwan.
According to police sources, a case of murder has been lodged against unidentified people. The police are trying to identify people involved in the lynching.
In the last three months there have been over a dozen cases of lynching reported across the state. 'Mob justice' is common in rural Bihar. Over three dozen lynching incidents were reported last year and many more may have gone unreported.
The worst lynching case was reported in September last year when 10 men from the underprivileged Keri community were beaten to death in Vaishali district on the suspicion that they were thieves. Later, a high-level probe found that the men were innocent.
