Early one morning, Muhammad Shahbaz, a resident of Baghbanpura, Lahore, was taking his 2-year-old son to a nearby clinic that administers vaccination, when the toddler, fearing the upcoming vaccination shot, began shouting and wailing. An overzealous passerby examined the situation for a few minutes and then made a judgement call: Shahbaz was a kidnapper and must be apprehended.

The passerby, Muhammad Naeem, got hold of Shahbaz, tore him apart from the child and while loudly accusing him of kidnapping the boy, began to beat him. Following the principle of mob mentality, others joined in. According to the Baghbanpura Police Station FIR, within minutes there were over 200 people involved in beating Shahbaz.

Eventually, a police mobile appeared, the crowd dispersed and Shahbaz was taken into custody. Investigations revealed that he was innocent. An FIR was charged against the vigilante who instigated the mob that day.

Shahbaz’s story does not stand alone. In the last month, in Lahore alone, there have been at least 40 similar cases of "mob justice" and vigilantism, according to Dr Haider Ashraf, DIG Operations. The cases, spread across Lahore, Multan and Faisalabad among other cities, are thought to be a reaction to the recent alleged rise in the number of child kidnappings.

The stories are similar. In Kharaipar villagers tortured two vendors after suspecting them to be kidnappers. In Mandi Usmanwala a woman was seized and beaten after a passerby accused her of kidnapping a child. In Kot Radha Kishan a man was intimidated and beaten by wedding guests outside the function hall under suspicion of being a kidnapper. In every case, so far, the beaten and bruised suspect has been released after investigation.

The question is, if in all cases, so far, the suspects that vigilantes handed over to the police have been released why have the authorities not been able to curb these vigilantes and these deliverers of ‘mob justice’?

The most common form of "mob justice" in Pakistan is related to alleged blasphemy cases, but, Zohra Yusuf, chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, points out that in the last decade the country has also witnessed vigilantism in other instances. One famous incident was the lynching of Mughees and Muneeb Butt, two teenage brothers accused of robbery by a crowd of people in Sialkot. She adds: "apart from distrust of the police, vigilantism is also an expression of lack of confidence in the judicial system".

A Lahore-based criminologist, Muhammad Asif, who has conducted quantitative research on "Police legitimacy and support for vigilante violence in Pakistan" lends credence to Yusuf. The research, which is co-authored by Justice Tankebe, a London-based criminologist, reveals a direct link between police corruption and a rise in vigilantism. The perception of an unfair decision-making by the police and others in the legal system has also shown a direct link with a rise in vigilantism.

"When people find that the criminal justice system is defective and unreliable, and that it delays procedural proceedings, they will support and resort to self-help and vigilantism as an alternate criminal justice system," Asif told The News on Sunday.

The perception of a corrupt police force and a delayed legal system is an important propellant for these incidences of "mob justice"; and the fact that in some instances, such as one in Multan, the mobs also threw rocks and stones at the police mobile when it eventually arrived to arrest the suspected kidnappers apprehended by the mob, proves this.

However, Asha Bedar, a Karachi-based psychologist, points out that there is more at play. She explains that vigilantism is like an adult form of cops versus robbers, it gives people a feeling of being noble and good since they have punished the ‘bad guys’. "The act has a sense of morality, nationalism and heroism attached to it," explains Bedar. That the act of exacting ‘justice’ is exhilarating and exciting does not help matters.

The background to these ideas, Bedar states, comes from conformity that is encouraged in Pakistani schools. "Schools teach us to repeat, memorise and accept the rules, without critical analysis. The notion of good versus evil and the concept of the enemy is taught by schools and reinforced by the media and, in this context, there is nothing surprising about such mob behaviour," says Bedar.

"One way to curb vigilantism is by making it clear to the public that such forms of ‘justice’ meted out by citizens is illegal and will entail action by law enforcers," suggests Yusuf. The fact that earlier this month Sindh Inspector General AD Khawaja awarded Rs50,000 to a citizen of Karachi for shooting dead two suspected robbers sends mixed signals to the public. Bedar explains that the IG’s actions had a negative impact because if "the police offers rewards to the community for killing, it reinforces the taking of law into our own hands and through that significantly undermines our legal and police system".

On the other hand, DIG Ashraf told TNS that policemen under his watch have been instructed to carry out a social and electronic media campaign that clearly instructs the public to not take law into their own hands, especially in the light of the recent kidnappings and related incidences of violence, and instead call or text the authorities if they see something suspicious.

He adds that deterrence is another method his force is using to curb vigilantism. Over 30 people, in Lahore alone, are currently being investigated for instigating "mob justice". The hope is that if they receive punishments then other citizens will stop policing, out of fear of being policed.

One reason for the existence of mob justices, explains Huma Yusuf, in a 2015 column, is that "Mobs in Pakistan also offer a false sense of safety. When you’re part of the mob, you’re strong. Join the mob, and you ‘win’." Bedar extends this view by stating that vigilantism allows us to compensate in a way for the powerlessness, helplessness and frustrations we experience in other areas of our lives in Pakistan. "For that one moment it allows us to feel superior and in control, a 2part of a bigger cause, a group, a movement."

Along with improving the perception of the police and the legal system in the eyes of citizens, it is also important to curb the phenomenon of mob justice. The psychologist points out the need to "develop community based strategies for learning constructive ways of dealing with our many stressors -- to make a conscious effort to challenge the machismo, the false sense of honour and hyper-masculinity that is a part of our society."

Tahir Naqvi, an athropologist at Trinity University, views vigilantism and mob justice as complex forms of violence. The collective practice of vigilantism is a way of distributing the risk of reprisal. At the same time, acts of mob justice are always a kind of commentary on and message to the state, which is supposed to be a neutral and effective body that secures peace.

When people take on the functions of the state, such as the use of violence to maintain order, it can often be a way of signalling to the state that it has failed to act in their interests. With that said, mob justice can also be a critique of very forms of neutrality and due process that define good policing but can slow the process of justice.