Boy, 7, tortured on stealing charges in Kushtia, two arrested

A 7-year old boy has been subjected to strappado-like torture in Kushtia’s Kumarkhali for allegedly stealing a mobile phone.

Police have arrested two of the three accused of torturing the boy in Charmandalpara of Chheunria.

Doctors at Kushtia General Hospital have released the boy after giving him first aid, the hospital’s Residential Medical Officer Tapas Kumar Sarker said.

Kumarkhali Police Station OC Abdul Khaeleq told bdnews24.com on Thursday that the incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon.

Noor Mohammad, a member of the local union council, said a woman named ‘Rupali’ of Charmandalpara lost her mobile phone earlier this week and her family suspected the boy, ‘Jewel’, had stolen it.

Two influential people of the area, ‘Tanjil’ and Mir Akkas Miru, picked the boy from his house around 3pm on Wednesday and hanged him by his hands from a tree in front of the house of Tanjil’s in-laws.

They also beat up the child at the time, the union council member said.

Locals later rescued him and took him to the hospital, he added.

Kushtia Assistant Superintendent of Police Mehedi Hasan said Jewel’s brother started a case against three people on Wednesday night over the torture.

Police arrested two of the accused and sent them to court, the officer said and added that the law enforcers were after the third suspect.