8-year-old boy stripped and tied to tree rescued after Mumbai police get an alert on Twitter
The boy, who lives in a slum in Andheri, had been punished by his mother for bunking school
An eight-year-old boy, stripped naked, crying and tied to a tree in Andheri (west), was rescued by the Mumbai police on Monday morning, after a Twitter user saw the child from the window of his house and alerted the police on their Twitter account.
The Juhu police said the social media team got in touch with them after receiving an alert about child abuse from one of their Twitter followers, Nishit Mehta, who tweeted a photo of the boy to @MumbaiPolice.
When the police visited the spot — a slum pocket near Andheri fire brigade, visible from Mehta’s building spot — they discovered that an eight-year-old boy had been tied to the tree as a punishment for bunking school by his mother and older brother.
The boy’s mother said her husband had passed away and she was working as a domestic help, and that she wanted her sons to study hard so that they could secure themselves a good future, police officials said.
“The boy used to bunk school frequently, which used to make her angry. Today, he had bunked school again, so she had punished him, said a police official, who did not wish to be named. “We took him for a medical test and found there were no injuries, minor or major, on his body.”
The Juhu police said they let off the mother with a warning that she should not punish her children in this manner. “The mother apologised, and she has promised not to use such punishments in the future,” the official said.
A little while later, Mehta also posted a photograph of the Juhu police rescuing the boy.