MADURAI
A 16-year-old boy, studying Plus One at Kottampatti Government Higher Secondary School, is alleged to have been beaten up under illegal detention at Kottampatti police station over a petty quarrel between his parents and a neighbour.
The boy from a village near Karungalakkudi was undergoing treatment as an outpatient at Melur Government Hospital, particularly for the injury in his ears, his family told The Hindu.
His mother R. Fathima (name changed) said there was a quarrel with one of their neighbours on Friday over letting out drainage water. Though her son was at school at that time, the neighbour, a differently abled woman, filed a complaint with Kottampatti police, alleging that Fathima, along with her husband and son, attacked her.
Fathima said she and her husband, who was working in a textile shop, received calls from Kottampatti police on Friday, asking them to come to the station along with their son for an inquiry. “We took our son directly from the school in his uniform. As soon as we entered the police station, they started thrashing my son,” she alleged.
“A police officer banged my head against the wall and started beating me continuously. As I gasped for breath, he gave me water and continued the beating,” the boy, who had scored around 75% marks in Class 10, said.
Alleging that her husband was also beaten up, Fathima said the police released them later in the night after obtaining signatures on a paper.
“Quarterly examination is in progress. I skipped the exam on Monday due to the pain in my body,” the boy said, adding he was hesitant to attend school after the incident.
M. Viviliyaraja, District Child Protection Officer, said it was wrong to inquire the boy at police station, let alone beating him up. “Even if the police wanted to inquire him, it should have been done by the Child Welfare Officer associated with the station, that too in plain clothes outside the station,” he said. “If there were doubts, the police could have approached the District Child Protection Unit or Juvenile Justice Board. Only recently a training was organised for the police in this regard,” he added.
When contacted, a police officer attached to Kottampatti station denied beating up the boy. “The complaint by the physically challenged woman was credible. So, we summoned the family. They were warned and an entry was made in Community Service Register (CSR),” he said.
Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao, to whom a petition was submitted by the family, has asked the Melur Revenue Divisional Officer to conduct an inquiry.