Mob justice: Alleged blasphemer lynched in front of police
In an appalling incident of mob justice, a man was lynched for allegedly desecrating the Holy Quran in a village in Dadu district of Sindh on Friday. More alarming is the fact that the unidentified man was burnt to death right in front of the police inside the local police station.
The man was accused of burning copies of the Holy Quran at Memon mosque in Seeta village. According to the prayer leader of the mosque, Usman Memon, the man appeared to be a traveller who stayed at the mosque for a night.
“He offered Isha prayers [on Thursday] and spent the night here. When we [worshippers] came to the mosque for Fajr prayers, we found charred copies of the Holy Quran,” Memon told Sindh Express.
The worshippers suspected the unidentified lodger was responsible for the desecration since he was alone at the mosque. “We handed him over to the Rajo Dero police and lodged an FIR against him,” said Memon.
However, as word spread across the village, residents started gathering at the police station. Once the mob gathered strength, they overpowered the police officials posted at the station and took the accused into custody. Reportedly, they thrashed him before setting him on fire.
“There were more than 200 people against half a dozen policemen,” Ghulam Mustafa Tunio, the newly-appointed station house officer (SHO) of Rajo Dero police told Sindh Express. He added that the police could not identify the accused.
The senior superintendent of police (SSP) Dadu, Usman Ghani, said the 10 policemen present at Rajo Dero police station at the time of incident, including then SHO Baharuddin Keerio, have been suspended.
“We have also arrested around two dozen residents of the village,” he told reporters at the police station. Two separate FIRs have been lodged against the policemen and the village residents, SSP Ghani added.
More than 200 villagers have been booked for murder and obstructing police from duty under Sections 302 and 353 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The 10 policemen have been charged for negligence.
(Read: Another case of blasphemy)
Published in The Express Tribune, December 22nd, 2012.
COMMENTS (52)
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All sympathies for the deceased and anger at the fanatics aside, I don't understand how blasphemy laws come into this discussion.
In many countries of the world, which I have been visiting, the word Pakistan conjures up a picture of barbaric stone-age culture that is sustained by evil mullahs who for their own personal agenda want to continue with this horrendous blasphemy law (would it not be better to call it a lynch-mob quick fix by using persons -- many times, innocent -- as the sacrificial lambs?). International analysts even say that Pakistan's plight is worse than that of Sudan, Somalia or even North Korea. So people ask themselves, why does Pakistan not take the courage to reform itself? It needs that badly and urgently. Its hitherto culture of terrorism and religious extremism, denial and deception, and cheating not only the world at large but also its own people cannot be sustained indefinitely. It is at the edge of the cliff. For one, stop blaming everyone else but yourself (this is evident from the reaction of readers to any ghastly incident in Pakistan always, invariably, blaming outside forces and finding absurd excuses to justify whatever happens). Religion is a good thing if practised within the confines of one's home; it becomes an uncontrollable Frankenstein monster once it is let loose and mingles with politics. The beneficiaries are always a handful of opportunists (in your case the mullahs who have been brainwashing unsuspecting and impressionable young boys and turning them into killing machines). The losers are always the people. What a shame! Such a beautiful country with some decent and just-minded people going to the dogs. I sincerely hope you will have the courage to stand up to such atrocities that are not only giving your country a bad name (Madelein Wright called Pakistan an "international migraine" but others are now using harsher words such as an "international plague") but are also destroying it.
@ Hanif: you are quite sure of the facts it seems. Accuser, Prosecutor, Judge- all in one. My what a wise person you are! (not)!! Where you a witness and actually there? If so you are as guilty as the Police and should also be arrested.
@Hanif:
Please present the evidence that he actually did what you are saying with such authority. And also remember that in case failure, you will be guilty of Tuhmat which is a punishable crime according to the same religion you think you follow...
Lawyer here. The police has legal authority to shoot down anyone who enters a police station by force. Were the policemen just standing around when the mob came into the police station, took the man and left?
@Akshay, India:
The draconian Blasphemy Law, the unfair Evidence laws have nothing to do with shairah. Blasphemy Law has no foundations in the Quran or Islam. It was introduced in the Subcontinent by the British in 1862 and made lethal by Zia, the denture shaheed.
He deserved everything he got for insulting our beloved prophet(pbuh) - death is not a sufficient punishment and anyone defending this infidel deserves the same fate. Allahu Akbar.
Even if we for a minute assume that the man did actually burn the Quran...
The question that needs to be asked is.....
Which religion allows lynching of a human being?
Who on earth are these people and what sort of interpretation of Islam they follow.
Just thinking of such a horrific and barbaric act sends chills down my spine and there are people actually doing these acts.
These are NOT Muslims but absolute barbarians who will continue their horrific acts sometimes in name of religion, sectors , race and if nothing you always have 72 virgins to blow yourself up for
This is just more anti-Islamic screed.
terrible...and this in name of religion...
Sounds like a crazy idea to me dude.
www.GlobalPrivacy.tk
Where is government.where is republic of pakistan?
It is unfortunately not the first incident of its kind. There was a very similar treatment meted to another man a few months ago. The question is: who is at fault - the villagers (instigated by the clergy), the Police (for failing to protect the man), the victim (for coming in the midst of such isobaric villagers), the Pakistan's constitution (for its Blasphemy Law), or the blood-thirsty Mullahs (who look for some pretext to soak their hand with blood)? Years of indoctrination by the Talibans and extremists have gone into the blood of the general populace, where the reasoning, rationality, mercy and peace - all that Islam stands for - have simply vanished from Pakistan's soil. And all these in the name of Islam. Ironically, Pakistan calls itself an Islamic state! Is there any limit to hypocrisy?
when a whole village is INVOVED and police is obviously conniving ,then it is not the question of law, it is the question of state of mind of the whole nation, People in Pakistan support terrorists and extreemist and are living in an illisunal world created for them by mullas,they consider themselves superior and others are low, shouldn't world community rise and stop this nation from bringing the name of Islam into disrepute
This is not the first time that an accused has been lynched in a Police station. The Law has to amended to make an attack by public on a Police station a heinous crime carrying a minimum ten year sentence. Correspondingly, the Police has to be empowered to shoot at sight protesters who attack the station. If they fail to disperse the mob they should be penalized by stopping their promotions for ten years. Without accountability the Law will remain an Ass.
Ask these mob or villigers on how much do u pray each day?
Pakistan never disappoints you....it always does as per the expectations.....Pakistan = Ripley's Believe It Or Not...
My inner self ask me after this, shame on u being a muslim.
The police should have opened fire and shot dead every protester.....man,women and child......this type of incident would never ever have occurred in Pakistan again.....pakis would realise once and for all you can not take the law into your own hands
@Socko: Awesome observation!!!
On the day of judgment Quran will beare witness against these cruels and their masters.How barbaric is mullah when left un attended.The most powerfull men in the world doing nothing but leg pulling.Pakistan tera Khuda khafiz.Let us seek Allah's help.
does anyone here have a doubt on failed state tag?
@Jim:
I truelly feel sorry for you.
As long as we will keep turning in the ignorant and incompetent monkeys as law makers, we will continue to witness such brutal acts.
The barbarous laws such as Hudood and Blasphemy need to be scrapped completely.Together with that we also need to exterminate the unrducated, illiterate and uncivilised mullahs
Pakistan should be certified by the UN as one big mental institution.
Pathetic, I wonder why these goons don't come to the streets to protest honor killings,target killings, rape, injustice. These are big offences, and secondly there was no properroof that the man actually did this. I m sure our prophet wud never subscribe to this sort of injustice.
There was no 'justice' done by the mob. The title is a misnomer.
We are still paying for the decisions (sins) of a 'pious' general...
@Rahman: You are right to be sad. Muslims have lost their humanity. They prefer their children to suffer from Polio so they kill the workers vaccinating children. They use pretexts such as suspicion of burning a book (Koran is simply a book and not the prophet's remains) to kill another human. A religion does not suffer merely by someone disrespecting it. If that were the case Hindu religion would have vanished years back because the Muslim rulers of India burned Hindu temples and books. Therefore I request Muslims all over the world to be forgiving as per diktat of your prophet.
I don't see a single friend of mine shared this news on fb but they all shared the news that brings pride. Are we really superior?
Is this mainstream Islam or extreme Islam? Will interior minister blame Babri Masjid for this and murders of anti-polio workers too?
""This is called vigilante justice. Gone is the sanity.""
What a country? What a nation?? I salute you all :(
if Pakistani public really feels sad due to loss of this persons life, then they should come out on street (Each & Every individual) to protest against blasphemy law and demand its removal from the Govt, the Supreme SC, & its Supremo Iftikhar Chaudhary. Else, it will be obvious nobody cares for a person's life in pakistan, and everyone sheds crocodile tears.,
and still... till yesterday pak media was worried abt Modi as PM in India for he not being secular. lol
Without investigation, weather that alleged accused really burnt the koran or not or he was made just a scapegoat for some one else crime or may be trapped in a conspiracy. But fanatic mob killed the person without investigation by police. Even if he has burnt the koran, still it is the duty of public to follow rule of land or say law. This shows public has no conscience, sensitivity & respect for rule of law. They have became fanatic, barbaric & taliban. Policemen should also be charged for their negligence, it is their duty to investigate, protect the accused during trial, even if they have to use force or open fire to disperse the mob, they should have done.
Imagine Pakistan saying that they don't want to deal with PM Modi because he is not ''secular''.
@Jehanzeb: seriously?? tell that to this guys family.
Why blame the people, they were following Sharia law. The lawmakers either should make Pakistan a secular state or these thing will continue to happen.
The lynchers must immediately be sent to paradise for which they are yearning so much.
Seeta Village. There is irony there some where but muslims won't know it and confuse it with conspiracy.
I thought Muslims accused of Blasphemy weren't put to death just infidels.
Bravo Bravo Bravo !!! Slowly Pakistan is moving towards its end..... thanks to religious leaders for supporting it.
Now Pls don't blame West,Israel or Indians .... all are just watching you.
There's nothing wrong in the Islamic Republic. It is just an image problem.
Immediately amend the Constitution and delete all references to Islam, Allah, Blasphemy so that people are not motivated to murder others based on some make believe religious superiority. Minorities have already been decimated, now nothing else is left to destroy.
And still people said that Islam is a religion of peace. Any system that allows a logic for such a madness without any endogenous checks must be removed from society.
Such pious Pakistanis who live by the dictum that the act of burning a Quran must be expiated by burning a human being.
Another brick in the wall
What we have done to our society. I am sure even animal cannot beat us now. On the name of religion, we have become one of the fascist, barbaric and fanatic nations on the earth. Oh Allah, these people are doing all the atrocities on Your name, please guide them because they have cross all the moral and ethical limits. All blame goes to every Pakistani because they were sleeping when so called mullas were brainwashing the ignorant masses. Also, shame on the establishment and intelligencia who were coward for so long.
According to the Prime Minister, such negative news about Pakistan should not be reported. Only pojitiv neuj, please. This is a conspiracy against Pakistan. This man was burnt by U.S, Israeli, and Indian agents to defame Pakistan.
It is a sad affair in Pakistan, where people are accused of blasphemy and then lynched with impunity, the laws of the land does not matter to them. As a matter of fact the government has been violating the laws itself by negating the Supreme Court's decisions and directives for years so don't expect the common people to obey and abide the laws.. Pakistan is considered a lawless country around the world and justifiably so, police is corrupt to the core and do whatever they want to do.It is just mind boggling that they were rendered helpless with all the weapons they posses, this religious extremism is going to destroy the county eventually.
More Mayhem thanks to the infamous Blasphemy law.
Insanity at its peak.