A homeless, mentally disturbed man was burnt to death by a mob in west Java.

Occuring in Eretan Kulon village, Kandanghaur, Indramayu, West Java, on 22nd August, the man, without a name thus far, was sitting alone in a cemetery late at night when he was approached by a mob looking for “ninjas”, men dressed in black who commit foul deeds, often against children. Upon being approached the man did not respond to any of the crowd’s questioning and was then beaten and burnt to death.

In recent weeks this represents the second burning to death of a man on the suspicion of being a said “ninja”. Earlier, on 11th August, a man named Kasram, 40, was also set alight and killed. This man, who was not a resident of the village, was accused of having committed sexual assaults against young girls in order to somehow improve and deepen his black magic skills and knowledge, it is said.

Five hours after the latest killing police in the town carried out a “sweeping” operation. Everyone was required to stay in his home and the police went house to house and rounded up dozens of men, to be questioned, in an effort to prevent some other unfortunate vagrant from the lynch-mob justice of this little village in Java.