Man lynched for delay in serving tea

In yet another case of mob violence, a tea shop owner was beaten to death by a group of youths for delay in serving tea in Bihar's Araria district, the police said on Thursday.

Abdul Qayum, in his 40s, was the victim of the violent act at Doriya chock near Farbisganj in Araria, about 350 km from Patna.

The police said some youths were angered by the delay in serving tea. They first beat up Qayum's son Bittu. When Qayum intervened to rescue his son, they severely beat him with bamboo stick and bricks, they said. He died on the way to hospital and his son was admitted to the hospital for treatment, the police said.

According to the police, the victim was busy serving tea to people at his shop and requested others to wait for some time. But the youths took the request as an act of humiliation.

The police have lodged a report against the youths.

In rural Bihar, 'street justice' is becoming increasingly common. In 2007, over three dozen cases of lynching were reported and many more have gone unreported.

The worst lynching case was reported in September 2007 when 10 people from the underprivileged Kueri community in Vaishali district were beaten to death over an alleged theft. Later, a high-level probe found that the men were not thieves as the villagers had suspected.