Mob lynches Pakistani man for burning Quran in public

A mob reportedly dragged a Pakistani man accused of desecrating a Quran in public from a police station, beat him to death and then burnt his body. The Associated Press cited a police officer as saying the killing took place Tuesday in the "deeply conservative" Punjab province in central Pakistan, in a city called Bahawalpur.

Hundreds of madrassas, or religious schools, run by radical Islamist groups are located there, according to the BBC.

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, the AP points out, allow for anyone who insults the Prophet Muhammad or the Quran to be sentenced to death. However, the sentence is reportedly rarely carried out.

However, according to most media reports, the accused man was mentally unstable and, according to one quoted police officer, "not aware of even the location of his residence." (...)