(Victim: Vidhu Jain)
A 12-year-old schoolboy was burnt alive in broad daylight on Monday in Punjab’s Malerkotla township, trigerring local protests that blocked the highway connecting Ludhiana and Patiala. Malerkotla is a Muslim-dominated area in Punjab.
The boy, identified as Vidhu Jain, was on his way to his brothers’ schools to drop his lunch box that he had forgotten home. In an unexpected turn, suspects kidnapped the boy and then poured petrol on his body before setting him on fire. He was brought to the local hospital with 100 percent burns and died.
The incident took place at around noon on Monday. The police say that the motive is being probed. Angry relatives and locals ransacked buses and blocked the highways in protest. The shopkeepers at Malerkotla and Dhuri observed complete shut down after the incident. No arrests have been made so far while investigations are underway.
The crime, sources said, could have also been committed for ransom. The family of the boy runs a departmental store in the township.
Hindustan Times reported:
Following a recent argument over a kite string, two people burnt alive the 12-year-old son of a kite seller at Malerkotla in Sangrur district on Monday morning.
Vidhu Jain, a resident of Chota Chowk, received 100% burns and succumbed to them on his way to a private hospital in Ludhiana.
The incident took place around 11.30 am when Vidhu, a student of Class 7 at AS Jain School, was reportedly going to hand over the lunch box to his younger brother at Basant Valley School.
SSP Mandeep Singh Sidhu said shopkeepers saw Vidhu, who was ablaze, running down the market lane and screaming in Nawab Da Bagh area and doused the fire.
“The boy was in a serious condition when the police reached the spot. In the presence of the police and his father Naveen Jain, Vidhu said two persons forcibly took him to an under-construction colony and set him ablaze,” Sidhu said, adding that one of the assailants was “purportedly minor”.
A scorch mark apparently left on the ground after the boy was doused in fuel and set alight on a building site
A scorch mark apparently left on the ground after the boy was doused in fuel and set alight on a building site
“According to the boy’s statement, he could not identify the two but could recognise them as he had had a heated argument with them over the kite string three days ago,” the SSP said.
“The boy told his father that the argument had taken place in the presence of their servant who was present at the shop, Sidhu said, adding that the police were trying to locate the servant who was missing after the incident.
The shopkeepers rushed the boy to a local hospital, where he was referred to the Ludhiana hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.
As the word spread, people from all communities gathered and blocked the Ludhiana-Malerkotla and Patiala-Malerkotla roads. They also ransacked five buses and damaged a few two-wheelers. The police resorted to a mild lathicharge to disperse the protesters, who demanded the immediate arrest of the accused.
Ruling out the possibility of it being a communal attack, the SSP said they hoped to arrest the accused at the earliest. “Though a few people are trying to give it a communal colour, there was nothing of the sort,” he said.
(Residents protesting after the incident in Malerkotla. Bharat Bhushan/HT)
(Residents protesting after the incident in Malerkotla. Bharat Bhushan/HT)
Meanwhile, shopkeepers at Malerkotla and Dhuri observed a complete shutdown after the incident and joined the protest. Heavy police force from Barnala and Patiala districts was called in to avoid any untoward incident.
“The situation is tense but under control,” the SSP said.
Hindustan Times Report
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