Feeling humiliated after being allegedly ‘sodomised’ by a retired army man, a 14-year-old boy committed suicide at his house in a village in Udaipur Narauli village of Moradabad district, about 350 kilometers from here.
According to reports, the victim was returning home after meeting a friend, when he was called by a retired army man identified as Dharam Singh, whose house was on the way. Singh lured the minor inside his house on the pretext of seeking his help in lifting a heavy wooden object.
Once the minor entered Singh’s house, the latter allegedly sodomised the teenager. He threatened him with dire consequences if he dared to speak anything about it to his parents or others, according to the reports.
The boy, however, narrated the incident to his parents following which a large number of people assembled outside Singh’s house but by then, the culprit had escaped.
On their return, parents of the victim found him hanging by the ceiling fan in one of the rooms. He was brought down and rushed to the hospital but was declared brought dead.
The father of the victim, who worked as a petty labourer, said that his son was very upset after the incident. “He must have been feeling humiliated and killed himself,” the grieving father said.
Since the victim and the culprit belong to different communities, the incident acquired communal overtones and triggered tension in the area. Security personnel in strength were deployed in the village to maintain order.
District superintendent of police (rural), Anil Kumar Singh said that the body had been sent for postmortem examination and stern action would be taken against the culprit and manhunt had been launched to nab him.
