Mentally unstable

The World of Religion:

Thousands of people dragged a Pakistani man accused of desecrating Islam's holy book from a police station in central Pakistan, beat him to death and then set his body on fire, a police official said Wednesday.

The incident highlighted the highly charged nature of Pakistan's blasphemy laws, under which anyone found guilty of insulting Islam's Prophet or the Qur’an can be sentenced to death.

Sometimes, however, people take the matter into their own hands.

A senior police officer, Mohammed Azhar Gujar, said in the incident Tuesday in Bahawalpur, a city in a deeply conservative part of central Pakistan, attackers stormed a police station where the man was being interrogated.

Gujar said the victim seemed to be mentally unstable. He was arrested after residents said he threw pages of the Qur’an into the street.

While the man was being questioned, some people started making announcements over mosque loudspeakers, urging residents to go to the police station and punish him.

Within hours, thousands gathered outside and demanded the man be handed over to them. Gujar said police tried to protect him, but the mob turned violent.

They burned several police vehicles and wounded seven officers before grabbing the man and dragging him into the street, where he was beaten to death and his body set on fire.

More at the BBC:

The area where the lynching took place is home to hundreds of madrassas - religious schools - run by radical Islamist or sectarian groups....

Police say they are trying to identify the victim, who was said to be mentally unstable.

"The man had no idea what was going on," said an official.

"While he was in our custody, he kept laughing and chanting."

A case has been registered against unknown attackers. No arrests have been made yet.