Dalit boy, 12, kept tied, tortured with shocks over theft suspicion in Palwal
Published on: Dec 25, 2025 04:32 am IST
FIR cites BNS, SC/ST and JJ Act as lawyers flag delay in action after police first treated the child as a theft suspect and let alleged attackers walk free.
Police in Palwal have registered a case against 10 members of a family for allegedly torturing and wrongfully confining a 12-year-old Dalit boy for several hours after suspecting him of theft. The accused have been charged with voluntarily causing hurt, wrongful confinement, and under provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, among other offences.
Only one suspect has been arrested so far, while three prime accused remain at large.
Investigators said that the group of people that allegedly held the minor, tied his limbs and repeatedly gave him electric shocks. The boy also told investigators that he was sexually abused by the family.
The victim is under treatment at a Faridabad hospital for burn wounds allegedly caused by live wires, said police.
According to police, the incident occurred on the intervening night of December 10 and 11. The victim, who carries lights during wedding processions to support himself and his widowed mother, was returning to Banchari village from Hodal with two other children when a car allegedly driven by inebriated occupants began chasing them at around 11.30pm.
The boy, in his statement to the police, said that in an attempt to escape, the boy jumped into the compound of a house, while the other children ran towards the village.
“The occupants got up and caught the minor, suspecting he was a thief. The suspects assaulted him after asking his identity while he kept begging for mercy. Not believing, they took him inside their house, tied his limbs and periodically gave him electric shocks for hours even after he kept fainting,” the official further said.
They also allegedly sexually assaulted him, the official said, quoting the statement by the victim.
Hours after they apprehended the boy, the suspects finally called the police who took custody of the victim. Police officials said no one was arrested at the time because the 12-year-old, they were told, was a suspect in a case of theft.
A crime branch official said the victim has extensive bruising as a result of the assault and “at least 16 burn wounds on his chest and abdomen caused from touching live wires”.
On December 13, after the issue was raised by lawyers and social activists, police registered a first information report (FIR) against three name and seven unidentified suspects under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 115 (voluntarily causing hurt), 127(2) (wrongful confinement), 190 (unlawful assembly), 191(2) (rioting) and 351(3) (criminal intimidation by threatening to cause death or grievous hurt) as well as under the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act) and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act at the Mundkati police station.
In the FIR, the victim’s mother alleged that she received a call from the police officers at the Mundkati police station on December 11. “I reached there to find him in a semi-conscious state. He was not even unable to walk,” she alleged in the FIR, seen by HT. She also alleged that he had been hung upside down.
“I took him to the government hospital in Hodal but looking at his critical condition, doctors referred him to a better centre. I took her to a private hospital in Palwal from where he was shifted to Faridabad,” she added.
Surender Kumar, DSP (Hodal), said that only one accused, identified as Ram Kumar of Khambi village, has been arrested (on December 20) so far. “He had harboured the three prime accused after they had fled from Banchari,” he said.
The three prime suspects filed anticipatory bail petitions on December 22. A hearing in the case on Wednesday, at a sessions court in Palwal, was adjourned after no medical report on the injuries sustained by the minor was available.
The victim’s counsel, advocate Sunder Lal Gautam, said, “After hearing the matter for the first time on Wednesday, the additional sessions judge Prateek Jain posted the matter for next hearing on January 8 so that the detailed medical report on the boy’s injuries is available.”
The DSP said a special investigation team (SIT) has been formed in the case and raids are going on at several locations to nab all the accused.
