New Delhi: In yet another heinous act that has stirred countrywide anger, a middle-aged intellectually challenged man was stoned to death and his body hanging from a tree by a mob in a rural town in Pakistan's Punjab province for allegedly desecrating a holy book, authorities said on Sunday.


The event occurred on Saturday evening in Jungle Derawala hamlet, Khanewal district, 275 kilometres from Lahore, when locals gathered after Maghrib (evening) prayers, after allegations that a man had ripped pages of the Holy Quran and burned them on fire, PTI reported.


Despite the fact that a police force had been placed in the village before the incident, the crowd overpowered them.


According to eyewitnesses, the victim was taken from the custody of the SHO and chained to a tree before being lynched.


The victim professed innocence, but the villagers allegedly beat him with bricks till he died.


"Over 300 men had gathered at Masjid Shahmuqeem Muaza in Jungle Derawala village, where they tied a middle-aged man with a rope before stoning him to death. Later, they hung his body from a tree," police officer Muhammad Amin was quoted by PTI in its report.


He said that two police officers who attempted to remove the body from the tree were hurt when the mob began hurling stones at them.


"Police tried to take the injured man into custody, but we were outnumbered by the mob, and they killed him. They chanted religious slogans and attacked the two policemen who tried to bring the victim's body down from the tree. Once fresh reinforcements arrived in the village, they shifted the body to a mortuary," Amin adds.


Mushtaq Ahmed, a native of Bara Chak village, was named as the victim, according to the BBC Urdu service. As per the villagers, the victim was mentally handicapped.


A series of videos have emerged on social media showing the outraged crowd torturing the man and hanging his body from a tree. According to footage circulating online, others even attempted to burn his body.


Hafiz Mohammad Tahir Ashrafi, Special Representative to the Prime Minister on Religious Harmony, denounced the event and demanded that the culprits be prosecuted. He stated that the victim was not mentally sound and had been afflicted with a mental disorder for around 15 years.


The heinous crime occurred a little over two months after a Sri Lankan CEO of a textile manufacturer was lynched and his body was set on fire by irate followers of a hardline Islamist party that raided the plant in Punjab's Sialkot over blasphemy claims.


Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar received a preliminary report on the Sunday incident from Punjab Inspector General of Police Rao Sardar Ali Khan.


According to the article, a case was filed against 33 suspects and 300 unknown individuals, and sections on heinous crimes and terrorism were also included.


Chief Minister Buzdar has issued directions requiring that all legal criteria be satisfied and that no one be permitted to take the law into their own hands.


An FIR has been filed against 300 individuals. So far, 85 people have been detained, including 15 primary suspects, and operations are being launched to apprehend the remaining perpetrators, according to Punjab police.


The main suspects were among those detained. To identify further suspects, authorities will perform a forensic examination of accessible video footage.


'We Have Zero Intolerance For Anyone Taking The Law Into Their Hands': Pakistan PM Imran Khan 


Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed his outrage over the tragedy on Sunday, saying the perpetrators of the lynching will be "dealt with (the) full severity of the law," along with police officers who "failed in their duties."


Taking to Twitter, Pakistan's PM Khan said, "We have zero tolerance for anyone taking the law into their own hands and mob lynching will be dealt with the full severity of the law. Have asked Punjab IG for report on action taken against perpetrators of the lynching in MIan Channu & against the police who failed in their duty."






"This problem is one of rule of law and one of social decline as well. Be prepared for great destruction if the school, police station and pulpit are not reformed," he warned.


Shireen Mazari, Minister of Human Rights, criticised the event, saying it "should not go unpunished."


Pakistan has highly stringent anti-defamation laws, including the death sentence, which rights activists claim are frequently used to settle grudges in the Muslim majority country.


(With PTI Inputs)