Thaindian News

Patna, April 5 (IANS) With a man suspected of stealing books being beaten to death by a mob here, shocking incidents of lynching continue in Bihar. Ram Pravesh Mahto, in his late 20s, was Friday brutally thrashed after he was allegedly caught stealing books from a printing press at Chakaram intersection under the jurisdiction of Buddha colony police station.

“Mahto was beaten to death with bricks and bamboo sticks by a mob after he was caught stealing books,” Gaurishankar Singh, officer in charge of the police station, said.

He was a resident of the Dujra locality here and his family said that he was not a thief.

According to police sources, a mob beat him to death and left his body on the street. Police later recovered the body. A case of murder has been lodged.

This was yet another case of lynching in the state in the recent past. A poor Dalit labourer was beaten to death in Buxar district Thursday.

These two incidents come a week after a Dalit, Bharat Dom, in his mid-40s, was beaten to death in Chapra district on suspicion of stealing a cow.

In the last three months, over a dozen cases of lynching have been 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 Kueri community were beaten to death in Vaishali district on the suspicion that they were thieves. Later, a high-level probe found the men innocent.