VARANASI: Police on Saturday arrested five of the six accused in the brutal beating of a 14-year-old boy in Bardeehakala village under Halia police station in Mirzapur district.
Mirzapur ASP (Operation) OP Singh said that among the arrested accused, one is the uncle and two are cousin brothers of the minor boy, who was brutalised on charges of theft. Teams have been engaged to nab the sixth accused. Initial investigations revealed that the boy was targeted on charges of theft, but it is suspected that his uncle and cousins committed the brutality due to some other family dispute, he added. The police swung into action after a video showing the 14-year-old boy being tied to a pole and beaten in Sarhara hamlet of Bardeeha Kala village went viral on social media on Friday.
Mirzapur SP assigned a probe into the matter to CO Lalganj Ashok Kumar Singh, while SO Halia Virendra Singh also reached the village to investigate the matter.
During the investigation, it came to light that the victim and the culprits were all from scheduled caste. In her complaint, the vitim’s mother, Saroj Devi, said on Jan 1, her son was caught and tied to an electric pole.
The boy’s uncle and cousins levelled charges of theft against him, after which a ‘panchayat’ (meeting) was held in the presence of village head Panna Lal and his son Bablu. There, the decision-makers held the boy responsible for the theft of tractor parts. After this, Bablu started thrashing him, and later the boy’s uncle and cousins also joined him in torturing him mercilessly. His mother alleged that the boy started to vomit blood due to the brutal assault and was rushed him to Lalganj community health centre. The police took note of the incident after its video went viral.
