Police said the alleged incident took place on July 23, but came to light almost a month later, on August 15, when the teenager confided in his parents. Two days after an FIR was registered in Gurgaon against “12-15 people” for allegedly beating up and sexually assaulting a 17-year-old boy while he was on his way to a party at a friend’s home, police have arrested two of the accused and identified the others.
“The victim was only able to identify four of the accused, but we have ascertained the identities of the others as well. Two people have been arrested, including a minor. Four people have been named in the FIR,” said Bijender Singh, SHO of Sushant Lok police station.
On the family’s allegations of sexual assault, the SHO said, “The medical examination, conducted on Sunday, has not confirmed this. We are trying to verify these allegations.”
Police said the alleged incident took place on July 23, but came to light almost a month later, on August 15, when the teenager confided in his parents.
According to relatives, on July 23, his father had dropped him off at a condominium in Sushant Lok, where he was supposed to attend a party at a friend’s house. While he was walking to the building, the accused allegedly surrounded him and beat him up.
In videos that have surfaced, a group can be seen pushing the victim, kicking and hitting him, with one of them also ripping his t-shirt. In another video, the boys can be seen making him apologise and promise that “this will not happen again”, before asking him to do sit ups. A couple of them can be heard telling others from the group that this is “enough”.
“One of his friends saw what happened and rushed upstairs to call others at the party, but it was too late… My nephew had already been beaten up; the incident occurred in five minutes,” said the victim’s aunt.
“In the days that followed, he became distant and withdrawn; he had stopped attending his online classes. Finally, on Saturday, after a lot of urging, he revealed what had happened. He is still traumatised so we are not pushing him to tell us more. But from what we understand, he knew one of the boys from social media. The two got into some kind of argument there, and then argued over the phone, after which this incident happened,” she said.
Police said one of the two arrested accused, during questioning, said they met on social media. “He did not know any of the accused properly, he had become acquainted with one of them over the Houseparty app. The accused claimed an argument broke out on the same, and they decided to confront the victim,” said the SHO. An FIR was registered on Saturday night at Sushant Lok police station under various IPC sections and POCSO Act.
In a social media post, the victim’s mother stated that her son is “emotionally, physically and mentally drained and traumatised”, and “wants to leave India right away”. Police said he has been living in Gurgaon with his family since 2007.