Mehsampur (Jalandhar), July 16
In a macabre incident, a seven-year-old child was battered to death, allegedly by a group of villagers after being subjected to sodomy.
The mutilated body of Hasandeep, a Class II student who had been missing since July 14, was thrown by the culprits near the village pond. It was detected by some villagers who had gone there in the morning. A brick was also found lying near the body, which suggested that the child was hit in the head with the same brick.
This has created panic among parents of particularly the Mehatpur-Nakodar area as another 10-year-old kid Davinder Singh, who went missing about a month ago from his native village of Khurampur, has not returned home till today. Davinder Singh had gone to fetch milk when he was last seen.
This is not the first crime against a child in the district, which was rocked by the killing of Hina and Abhishek, wards of a dry-cleaner, in July 2000. This year too, a young girl was allegedly kidnapped by some car-borne miscreants from Nurmahal in February, followed by the kidnapping of two kids from near the busy Devi Talab complex area about two months ago.
Hasandeep was last seen by his grandfather Arjun Singh around 6.30 p.m. But, thereafter, there was no clue about his whereabouts. The “search operation” launched by his parents and villagers all through the July 14 night failed to find the missing child. “We are poor people and have no enmity with anybody, yet we were made to undergo such a cruel treatment by some people,” rued a sobbing Arjun Singh. Mr Tarsem Peter, general secretary, Pendu Khet Mazdoor Sabha, alleged that the crime was the result of the laxity on the part of the police, which had failed to nab the culprits immediately after the abduction took place. He demanded that the culprits should be brought to the book at the earliest. He said concrete steps should be taken to curb crime, particularly against children and women.
Apart from the sodomy theory, the police is working on a separate theory which suggests the child could have been killed by some “tantrik”. Meanwhile, the police has detained four villagers by parents of the deceased. The clothes, worn by them during past two-three days, have also been seized for investigation purpose, said Mr Paramjit Singh Gill, SSP. He said a team had been formed for investigating the crime. He said prima-facie it appeared to be a sodomy- related crime.
