Brutality on boy on 'theft charge'

A teenage boy was beaten mercilessly in Kishoreganj Sadar upazila over theft of a television about one year back.

Victim Shafiq Mia aged about 15 is now undergoing treatment at Kishoreganj General Hospital with severe injuries all over his body.

Shafiq Mia, son of Moti Mia of Kalikabari village in Kishoreganj Sadar upazila, has been living with his maternal uncle's family as his mother works as a house help in Dhaka since her separation from husband about two years ago, said local union parishad Chairman Emtiaz Sultan Rajon.

Victim's family members and locals said a group of people picked up Shafiq on October 22 and took him to the house of one Abdul Latif at the village, alleging that he stole a television set from Latif's house about a year ago.

The people known as Latif's men tied the boy to a tree at Latif's courtyard and beat him mercilessly with sticks.

At one stage of torture, when Shafiq, a construction worker, became unconscious Latif's men left him in a nearby bamboo cluster and fled the scene, thinking that the boy might have died of the torture.

Later, local people rescued Shafiq and admitted him to Kishoreganj General Hospital.

Dr Ramjan Mahmud of the hospital said the boy sustained serious injuries all over the body, including the chest.

It will take another week for his full recovery, Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr Bidhan Chandra Banik said.

Farid Beg, a local ward member, said Latif had been blaming the boy since a TV set was stolen from his house about a year ago.

Shafiq's maternal uncle Delwar Hossain Badal said about 20 days ago Latif's men threatened his nephew of dire consequences for stealing the TV.

Shafiq's mother Fatema Begum lodged a case with Sadar Police Station accusing nine people, including Latif, on Sunday evening.

Kishoreganj Additional Superintendent of Police Masud Anwar said they were conducting drives to arrest the culprits soon.