Child labourer’s death: Day after Capt’s order, DC forms panel; no arrest yet

Already booked for culpable homicide, 40-yr-old sent to one-day police custody

Sixteen days after a 15-year-old labourer working at a Hambran factory died, the Ladhowal police arrested the labour contractor on Saturday late.

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Ladhowal station house officer (SHO) sub-inspector Balwinder Singh said the accused, Raghbir Paswan, 40, was nabbed at his rented accommodation in Hambran following a tip-off. “The accused has come to collect his household items before fleeing to his native village in Bihar,” the SHO said.

Paswan was booked on November 8 under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 75, 79 of the Juvenile Justice Act, a day after the victim, Lovekush, had died at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, of a head injury, as per the autopsy.

The accused told the police that following the FIR, he had hidden in Dhandhari Kalan and kept changing his location to avoid his arrest.

“We are questioning the accused to know what had happened on November 7 and why he had beaten up the child that led to his death,”said the SHO.

“Paswan had brought the child to Ludhiana on the promise of employment, but despite knowing that he was sick, he thrashed him with a stick following which his health deteriorated. He himself rushed the boy to the civil hospital, from where he was referred to the PGIMER,” the SHO added.

Paswan was produced before the court on Sunday and remanded in one-day police custody. ’s arrest comes after various organisations had protested for booking him for murder.

The police produced the accused before the court on Sunday. The Court remanded the accused for one day in police custody.