Five sent to judicial custody for torturing minor after accusing him of stealing

Five people were sent to judicial custody on Thursday for allegedly torturing a 14-year-old boy after accusing him of stealing money from a house in Kalaburagi, a police officer familiar with the matter said.

Chowk police inspector B Raghavendra said the incident took place on Wednesday when the victim, who was on his way to school, was allegedly stopped by the five accused. They then allegedly took him to one of their house and began to torture him to force a confession that he had stolen money from their neighbour’s house.

The officer said that the accused continued to torture the boy for three-four hours, and even burnt his hands and feet with cigarettes. The group also allegedly threatened to kill the boy if he didn’t confess and warned him that they would make videos of him smoking cigarettes and drinking beer go viral if he didn’t comply with their demands.

On Wednesday, the victim’s parents were in Hyderabad and they learnt about the matter later. Amid the alleged torture, the boy screamed for help but no one from the neighbourhood came to his rescue, the officer quoted the complaint filed by the boy’s parents.

“Unable to endure the severe physical and psychological abuse, the boy eventually confessed to the theft, despite being innocent. After forcing the confession, the men demanded that he steal gold jewellery for them, threatening further harm if he failed to comply,” the officer added. The accused have been identified as Jagannath (24), Saibanna (20), Mallik (28), Shreeshaila (22) and Varada (23).

“We have taken five people into custody. We booked all under JJ Act 75 (cruelty on child) and BNS sections 115 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 118 (voluntarily causing hurt with weapons) and produced them before the JMFC court, which remanded them to judicial custody for 14 days,” the officer added.