Mall security assault boy over theft suspicion

Four security staff at the Mantri Mall assaulted a 15-year-old boy, over suspicion that the latter was a mobile thief, the police said.

The injured boy, Vijay Kumar went home and informed his parents about the incident. The parents filed a complaint at the Malleswaram police station.

Kumar is a resident of Ramachandrapura in Srirampura. He is a grade 10 student at a private school in Rajajinagar. Kumar's father, Anand, works in a cloth shop.

A senior police officer said that according to Kumar, he had gone alone to the Sampige Road Mantri Mall on Friday around 6 pm to play video games on the fourth floor. He reached the second floor and as he noticed that his mobile battery was low, he went to the charging point. Several people had kept their mobiles for charging at the time. He was then waiting and roaming around in the area. The security guards, meanwhile, assumed Kumar was a mobile phone thief and started assaulting him.

Though, Kumar tried to convince them, the guards continued to beat him. They even took him to the parking and assaulted him with wooden logs and electric wires for about an hour. Kumar cried for help, but, no one came to his rescue. Eventually, he was thrown out of the Mall.

Somehow, Kumar managed to reach home and narrated the incident to his father. The boy was then taken to a hospital. Thereafter, a medical report was issued. Anand, the father, filed a complaint seeking action against the concerned security staff at the mall.

Kumar told police that he does not know the names of the security staff, but he can identify them.

Malleswaram police registered a case against the security staff and booked them under IPC sections 341 (wrongful restraint) and section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt).

"A notice has been sent to the Mantri Mall management, and the security agency has been asked to provide photographs of the security guards. We have also asked to provide CCTV camera footage from the mall during the time of the incident. One of the accused has been identified and efforts are on to track down three others," the officer added.