E-Paper
14-yr-old boy beaten up, forced to lick spit by classmates in UP
After school hours, the boy was allegedly abducted and taken to a warehouse behind a hardware shop. There, he was beaten with an iron rod and subjected to severe humiliation, the mother told police.
GORAKHPUR A Class 8 student was allegedly abducted, assaulted with iron rods and forced to lick spit by his classmates over a dispute stemming from a teasing incident in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh, police said on Thursday.
The incident, which took place in Maniram village in the district on July 26, came to light on Thursday after a purported video of the assault surfaced on social media. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
Chiluatal circle officer VK Tiwari, confirming the incident, said that police have registered a case and are probing the matter.
Quoting the complaint filed by the 14-year-old boy’s mother on August 4, police said the victim and the two accused –– students of the same class from a private school –– had a heated argument in school on July 26.
After school hours, the boy was allegedly abducted and taken to a warehouse behind a hardware shop in the district.There, he was beaten with an iron rod and subjected to severe humiliation, the mother told police.
In the video, the boy is purportedly seen kneeling as a group beats him with an iron rod. The attackers could be heard issuing threats to shoot the victim in public if he dared to speak out as they forced him to lick spit from the ground. Officials said the video of the assault was allegedly recorded by the accused and uploaded online to further shame the boy.
“They forced him to lick spit and threatened to shoot him in public if he spoke out. The trauma has left my son terrified and he has locked himself inside the house since,” the mother was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Based on preliminary investigation, Chiluatal station house officer (SHO) Atul Srivastava said the “assault was a reaction to a teasing incident at school”. “The video is being thoroughly examined and appropriate legal action will be taken,” he said.
Srivastava said that the two accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.
