Who favors me who opposes me?

It is really more horrible than terrible to read that mob has put a man on fire and burnt him alive while police could do nothing except just kept on looking what was going on. It is reported that some man believed to be a lunatic threw some pages of Holy Quran on the road and police locked him up in the Chanigoth police statio, Bahawalpur but it did not satisfy the masses who raided the police station and wished to punish the man themselves which as such created very ugly situation. Police first baton charged the crowd so that they are kept at bay but it did not work out so it used tear gas to disperse the crowd but here to it complexly failed.

People succeeded in getting hold of the man and dragged him all the way from the police station to the round about where he was believed to have thrown Holy Quran pages and poured petrol on him and burned him alive before a crowd of odd two thousand persons. It is undoubtedly very much unfortunate that the man did alike with the holy book which he should not have done in any case even if he was not a Muslim. Holy book is a holy book irrespective of the religion and hence it demands all of us to respect the holy book. In this particular case it is very much presumed that the man under the reference was not a normal person rather he was a bit impaired mentally meaning by that perhaps it was beyond his mental capacity to realize that he was throwing away none but Holy Quran and if it is true the he was exempted even to be beaten what to talk of being burnt alike.

It is a question of very simple common sense that if any person is mentally retarded than how one can expect that person to behave as normal and a prudent person as you or me for that matter. Another crude example is that of a toddler who being too small does not whether a book is a holy book or a story book so if that toddler tears off a page from a holy book then he and she cannot be punished because it is beyond his / her mental capacity to realize what type of book it is. The persons who attacked the police station were not lunatic but very much sane otherwise they had not surrounded any other building and not the police station but they knew very well where they were and why. Their protest and anger about throwing away the pages of Holy Quran is very much understandable and I am also with them but it does not mean that they should take law in their hands and do what they are not supposed to do.

Police had already caught him and put behind the bars means that the man was not let loose when he threw the pages of Holy Quran so people should have waited to see what police does with him and if they found that the police did not take to him task then perhaps people should have poked their nose but not before. In all fairness it is understood that police must have sent that man to psychological diseases hospital (mental hospital as called in Pakistan) for ascertaining as to what is his mental capacity and once it is medically confirmed that he is mentally sick or fit then the police should have taken the next step accordingly. Police must have initiated a case against him and sent it to prosecution to approach a court of law a court for necessary and appropriate action against him. I n case if the court found out that he falls under the category of full capacity then he should have faced the real music which could land him in jail for some years if not for life but had he been declared mentally impaired then the punishment had been very less. However, this is the prerogative of the court of law as to how to punish and how much but regretfully the public took the law in their hands and burnt him alive publicly as if they enjoyed the inborn right to decide his fate at their own which is most condemnable indeed.

Police has registered FIR wherein 1500 to 2000 persons are named who took part in taking the law in their hands by storming the police station, getting away with the accused, damaging public property, creating law and order situation etc and now some punitive action will be taken against those who are found to be involved in such a brawl in Bahawalpur. Extra police contingents are sent to the police station so that no new untoward incident happens because it is very much feared that people may again attack the police station and therefore police presence is increased accordingly. President Asif Ali Zardari has also taken due notice of the sad incident and has asked for a detailed report about the event.

What I lament the most is that very much surprisingly sane 2000 people have behaved as insane otherwise they had not done what they have done. To me these 2000 who have been mentioned in FIR deserve not only more punishment but very exemplary punishment than the one who was believed to me mentally off the track and if they are not punished suitably I am afraid the trend to handle any accused by the public will be set in and hence neither our police nor our courts will decide about the fate of an accused rather on the contra it will be decided by the public at large. Incidentally, it is not the first case where people have taken such a drastic action but in past too other accused like dacoits and rapists have been burnt alive by the public and this trend is gradually gaining more strength from one incident to another and it needs very prompt action on the part of the government otherwise we are heading towards jungle law.

I appeal to all the readers to rise to the occasion and say in one voice that we shun jungle law. Who favors me, who opposes me?

Iqbal Hadi Zaidi / Kuwait