New Delhi (PTI): On a day when a youth in police custody was brutally attacked by a mob in Bihar, President Pratibha Patil linked such incidents to the common man's frustrating experience in courts due to delay.

"We cannot allow a situation where the common man is tempted to take law into his own hand and subscribe to the deviant culture of the lynch mob," she said pointing to the delays in delivery of justice.

"Case disposals are excruciatingly time consuming. This agonising delay has rendered the common man's knock on the doors of justice a frustrating experience. This has ominous portents," she said at a seminar on judicial reforms here.

"We talk incessantly about delays but now the time has arrived to launch a crusade against the courage of arrears. Both the Bar and the Bench as equal partners in the administration of justice must address themselves to this problem," she said.

Bihar college student, Ravi Kumar, was attacked in Hajipur by a mob which vented its anger over his murdering a colleague over a petty dispute.

Kumar, who was in handcuffs, was dragged outside the hospital, kicked and mercilessly hit with bricks, official sources said.

TV footage showed him writhing in pain as policemen with batons in their hands and rifles slung on their shoulders watched helplessly.