12-Year Old Malerkotla Boy Burnt Alive After Argument

[HSD1]

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".

"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.

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.

http://www.yespunjab.com/punjab/item/31097-brutality-12-year-old-malerkotla-boy-burnt-alive-after-argument

Edited September 30, 2013 by HSD1

[HSD1]

Malerkotla police clueless in 12-year old Vidhu's brutal murder case

A day after 12-year-old boy Vidhu Jain was burnt alive by unidentified persons in Malerkotla, the local police failed to have any breakthrough in the case on Tuesday.

The police is totally clueless about the persons involved in such brutal crime as no arrest has been made so far in the case.

Indeed, station house masters of two police stations have been transferred to police lines with immediate for dereliction of duty.

Acting swiftly on the complaints of local residents, Senior Superintendent of Police Mandeep Singh Sidhu immediately relieved SHO of city I police station Parminder Singh and city II SHO Davinder Singh from the duty.

Meanwhile, demanding instant arrest of accused, the local residents comprised of several organisations of different communities, collectively staged protest throughout the day.

On Tuesday morning, agitators marched towards local hospital mortuary, where Vidhu's body had been kept for postmortem, before blocking Ludhiana-Malerkotla and Patiala-Malerkotla road for the whole day.

Sensing failure of the police in locating the accused, the protestors raised slogans against police and district administration officials.

Earlier, the family members of deceased Vidhu failed to possess his dead body till any arrest in the case.

Later in the evening, senior officials of police and district administration held meeting with family members persuaded them to carry out cremation ritual by assuring them of arrest of accused at the earliest. Hundreds of people were present at Vidhu's cremation, which was held at local cremation ground.

SSP Sidhu said they were working on different theories and were hopeful to nab persons behind the brutal incident.

"The police teams have been directed to accelerate hunt for the accused", he said.

"The foremost purpose was to ensure law and order situation in the areas as some anti state elements, who were trying to colour it as communal attack and motivating to disturb law and order condition", he said.

About transfer of SHOs, Sidhu said the locals complained that both the police officers had failed to pay heed to their repeated complaints even about little skirmishes and issues.

"Apart from it, both the police officers resorted to mild lathicharge to disperse protestors on Monday evening, here, without getting any orders from senior officers", Sidhu said.

Former Director General of Police and chairman of Punjab Wakf Board Mohammad Izhar Alama also demanded disciplinary action against police officers.

Heavy security arrangements were made to avoid any untoward incident.

All the entry points to Malerkotla city were sealed.

http://www.yespunjab.com/punjab/item/31192-malerkotla-police-clueless-in-12-year-old-vidhus-brutal-murder-case

Edited October 2, 2013 by HSD1