In Bengaluru, a horrifying event surfaced today into the open. Three primary school students were tied up to a tree. A gang did this. They forced the students to smoke beedis. The gang consisted of six members. This happened in Mahadevpura in east Bengaluru on Saturday afternoon. The date was 23rd October. The local people made a video of these helpless kids pleading with the group to let them go. This video has gone viral. It stormed the hearts of the people even more because the children were 11-13 years of age.
The torture of the class 5 students happened in the BBMP school campus in B Narayanapura in Devasandra ward. This was near KR Puram. This incident sparked outrage. The countrymen slammed the police for failing to increase surveillance in the area. They were further angry because the police were not able to crack down on the mischief-mongers. A former corporator alerted the jurisdictional police about the incident. Then they arrested 6 members. The arrested are Vivek who was 19, and Mahesh who was 18. The remaining four were 17 years of age and two of them were students.
Investigation revealed that the accused used to summon kids who came to the school playground. They would threaten them with dire consequences and rag them. Sources said that “they would order them to squat on the floor and thrash them with sticks. One of the accused called himself Gabbar Singh (the villain from the superhit movie Sholay) and go around threatening the younger children. They made the school premises their den for their illegal activities.” The incident surfaced when one of the children started to act differently on reaching home. The father of the kid said, “My son came back home in the evening and started to cry loudly and was shivering. His body temperature was high and his legs were bleeding. After consoling him, we asked him what happened. Then he explained the incident to us. We are frightened by it.”
While these were happening, some residents discreetly video-recorded the miscreants. Then they sent the video to the former corporator Srikanth of the Devasandra ward. Srikanth said, “Those were horrifying images. It was a completely inhuman and gross violation of children’s rights.” He added, “When these children refused to buy beedi from the store, the gang made them sit on the floor barefoot. They were beaten up with a stick on their feet and neck. Many children have burn marks on their neck, hand, wrist, and palm.” The police booked the suspects under various sections of the Juvenile Justice Act and IPC. Vikek, one of the accused, is in judicial custody.
