Arrests follow India mob attack

The victim is said to be in a serious condition in hospital

Seven people have been arrested and four policemen suspended in India's Bihar state after a mob beat a murder suspect until he was unconscious.

The man was being treated in a hospital near the city of Patna when he was dragged from his bed by the crowd.

Video broadcast on Indian television showed the man being dragged along the ground by a rope tied to his hands and being kicked until he stopped moving.

Saturday's attack was the latest in a series on suspected criminals in India.

Last year, a man accused of stealing in Bihar was lynched and dragged behind a motorcycle by a crowd with the help of policemen.

Lawless state

In the footage of this latest incident, at least one policeman can be seen standing by as the murder suspect is taken from police custody by an angry mob.

The realm of judicial administration is not without its own share of inadequacies and blemishes Indian President Pratibha Patil Bihar's vigilante justice

The man, identified as Ravi Kumar, was receiving treatment after being arrested for allegedly stabbing another man to death in a fight. He is now said to be in a serious condition in hospital.

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says Bihar is India's most lawless state, but most Indians were horrified by the video of the incident.

It was enough to draw comment from the country's President, Pratibha Patil.

She said that something needed to be done to prevent ordinary citizens taking the law into their own hands.

"The realm of judicial administration is not without its own share of inadequacies and blemishes," she was quoted as saying by the Times of India.

Our correspondent says India's legal system is mired in bureaucracy and corruption, and it can take years for a case to be heard and a trial to be concluded.

Many believe it is this growing frustration with judicial delays which is leading to more instances of people resulting to vigilantism and mob violence, he adds.