'Street justice' still common in Bihar

  More and more cases of ‘street justice’ and lynching are being reported from various part of the State.

The latest instance was witnessed in Vaishali district on  Wednesday when an irate mob lynched two criminals, who were trying to escape after shooting a local trader and snatching Rs 2 lakh from him.

Vaishali Superintendent of Police, P ON Bhaskar, said that Ashok Singh, a businessman, was intercepted by miscreants riding two bikes near Hajipur. The criminals opened fire, snatched the bag and sped away. However, Singh raised an alarm and the villagers apprehended the criminals and lynched two of them.

Recently, four tribals, suspected to be thieves, were beaten to death by the villagers near Sasaram, the constituency of Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.

The deceased identified as Shankar (30), Lakhan (26), Majanu (25) and Soojan (27) were members of the Banjara community from Bharatpur (Rajasthan) and earned their living by selling toys, idols and other craft items. One fine day, the locals attacked their basti (hamlet) and inquired about a boy Dhundhun, accusing him of theft. When the boy was traced, the villagers pulled out all his family members and assaulted them mercilessly with lathis and stones. Three persons died on the spot while the fourth one,  succumbed to his injuries at the primary health centre.

The case was a grim reminder of ‘mob justice’ meted out to a suspected culprit in Vaishali  district some time back. A murder accused Ravi Kumar was pulled out from police custody by an irate mob, stoned and thrashed mercilessly. Earlier, ten thieves were caught red-handed and beaten to death in the same district.