india

Updated: Apr 21, 2017 18:06 IST

He may not have been a witness to police brutalities, yet the two-year-old Dalit boy in Bihar’s East Champaran district, 153 km north of Patna, dreads men in uniform.

The reason: The minor boy from Bela Baiju village in Patahi police station area of the district has been receiving threats for the last one month from a police inspector to surrender in connection with an FIR lodged against him.

The FIR has been registered under Immoral Trafficking Act and section 379 (punishment for theft) of the IPC by a 35-year-old village woman, accusing the minor boy of molesting her and snatching a gold chain.

“The mere sight of policemen evokes fear in my son. The panic-stricken boy has been spending sleepless nights for over a month,” the boy’s father said.

He said the woman had lodged the complaint at Patahi police station on March 15 to save her husband, who was earlier booked under Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 379 of IPC and SC/ST Atrocities Act for an incident in which his father sustained serious head injuries.

“The woman has instituted the case at the instigation of village head Sunil Kumar, who is an accused in the case along with her husband. Inspector Kanaiya Prasad, posted as station house officer at Patahi is persistently putting pressure on me to withdraw the case,” the boy’s father said.

Instead of acting against culprits, the police have falsely implicated my two-year-old son in the molestation case. The boy is under severe trauma,” he said, alleging that the inspector had threatened him on Motihari court premises to withdraw the case.

He said that on April 6,2017, deputy inspector general (DIG), weaker sections, Anil Kishor Yadav had instructed East Champaran superintendent of police to arrest the village head and all his co-accused in the case. “But all the accused are roaming free,” the boy’s father said.

Additional superintendent of police (ASP) Vijay Kumar said the matter had been brought to his notice. Kumar said he would look into the matter and take necessary action.