The North Indian state of Bihar is totally screwed up.

In the latest horrifying incident to emerge out of Bihar, a few hundred residents of Dhelpurva village lynched 10 suspected thieves on Thursday morning.

Using sticks, iron rods, bricks and stones, a mob of several hundred villagers beat the suspected thieves to death.

One person managed to survive the thuggery.

Apparently, the villagers of Dhelpurva in the district of Vaishali took the law into their hands after frustration with the inattention of the local police to their repeated complaints of theft.

Earlier this week, there were reports from Bihar of an unruly mob gouging out the eyes of suspected motorcycle thieves in Nawada.

Before that, on August 28 we saw reports and pictures of a suspected gold chain snatcher dragged across town after being tied to a policeman’s motobike.

Bihar is probably India’s most backward state. Coruption is endemic, literacy is low and private armies rule over several parts of the state. According to the 2001 cEnsus, Bihar had a pitiful literacy rate of 47.53%.

Many years ago a British journalist described Bihar as India’s sewer. That’s probably an understatement.