Protest after seven-year-old electrocuted in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD:  A day after a seven-year-old boy got electrocuted after he touched an electric pole in the play area at PEBL City at Narsingi on the outskirts of Hyderabad, Monday night, those residing in the gated community lashed out against the builder and those responsible for electric maintenance of the enclave and staged a protest demanding action against them. 

“The poor boy was in the play area which is supposed to be safe. He did not do anything out of the ordinary like tamper with wires. This puts on display the carelessness of the builder and Gold Star -- the contractor hired by the builder to take care of electrical maintenance,” a homemaker said. 

“There were many kids in the play area at the time of the incident. The thought of the pole conducting electricity is disconcerting. We are worried about our children. The play area here is not safe,” a worried parent and resident of the enclave said.

Narsingi Police have written to the electricity department to inquire into how the boy got electrocuted. When TNIE spoke to the builders, they claimed the cabling was shockproof and if due to some reasons there was a short circuit or someone gets a shock, the supply will trip, minimising the effect of the shock, but this did not happen when Monish touched the pole. 

CCTV footage shows how Monish, when he touched the pole, remained stuck to it for sometime and then collapsed dead. People approached the boy. As the boy’s parents took his body to their hometown, Chennai, to perform last rites, Narsingi Police requested Chennai Police that a case be registered and postmortem conducted and then the case be transferred to Narsingi, inspector GV Ramana Goud said.